Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and rise of India's crony spiritualism

We have all heard of crony capitalism. The term I would like to coin for what India is witnessing currently is crony spiritualism.

Economists describe crony capitalism as a phenomenon in which success in business depends on close relationships between businesses and ruling party or government officials. The nexus works through favouritism in granting licenses, subsidies, tax concessions and other forms of state intervention.

The events unfolding in the national capital in the past week with regard to the World Cultural Festival being organised by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar demonstrate the rise of crony spiritualism. It is a phenomenon in which political, business and spiritual interests intersect to further narrow political and business interests.

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It is well known that Ravi Shankar had supported Narendra Modi's campaign openly, leveraging the vast network of his urban, English-speaking followers all over the country. A functionary of Art of Living (AOL), Maheish Girri, was elected on BJP ticket from east Delhi constituency where the controversial mega event is being organised.

The proceedings in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) have revealed that none of the official agencies involved - ministry of environment and forests, ministry of water resources, Delhi government, State Pollution Control Committee, Delhi Police - have permitted AOL to invade the riverbed for its record-breaking musical show. The only agency that gave the permission is Delhi Development Authority (DDA) which too withdrew the permission when it came to know about the scale of the event but within two weeks reissued the permission without its concerns being addressed.

Why did DDA - which functions under the central government - take this u-turn? Organisers of an event which does not have any "performance license" from Delhi Police nor does it have "no objection certificate" from the fire department can call up the Ministry of Defence and requisition Indian soldiers to build pontoon bridges. This is indeed crony spiritualism at its worst.

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Why didn't the defence ministry or the army think even for a second that they are actually abetting an activity which violates India's environmental laws? Or perhaps they don't care. For crony spiritualists like Ravi Shankar, bed of a holy river makes a perfect marketing ground. It all started with the building of Akshardham temple in the Yamuna floodplains with the blessings of the then deputy prime minister LK Advani.

The temple has been built on active floodplains and similar concerns were raised by environmentalists then but there was no NGT to hear them. Jairam Ramesh, environment minister in UPA-1, had admitted that the temple was unauthorised because no environmental clearance was sought or given. Emboldened with no action from state, central and local authorities on its earlier violations, Akshardham authorities built another building complex for its research centre in 2010.

Also read: Photos don't lie: Busting Sri Sri's claims of not harming the Yamuna

By rapidly rolling out FMCG goods under his yoga brand, Baba Ramdev has become another beneficiary of crony capitalism. The way he launched his pasta brand - along with instant noodles - even though he had not been specifically approved for it shows disregard for rules. Adverts for certain products of Ramdev have been found to violate advertising code relating to making unsubstantiated health claims, but then who cares for voluntary codes?

Like Ravi Shankar's easy access to the ministry of defence for building pontoon bridges overnight, Ramdev has signed deals with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for transfer of food technologies originally developed for Indian soldiers working in high altitudes.