Third Poster Against the Ashram Trust – Sridharan

Manoj Das Gupta should voluntarily step down from the post of the Managing Trustee before the Government intervenes.  Another poster in Tamil, this time with only his photograph, has come out on the streets of Puducherry. The poster asks a very pertinent question to the Puducherry Government. Why is the Govt afraid of acting against Manoj Das Gupta, the Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust? Why cannot the Govt protect the inmates of the Ashram? The poster has been issued in the name of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Inmates’ Association. (See below for photographs of the poster.)

It is strange that despite all the brouhaha by the supporters of the Ashram Trust, not one of them dares to suggest publicly an internal solution to the present crisis. Not one of them, including the alumni association of The Golden Chain Fraternity, dares to whisper an internal restructuring of the Ashram administration to cope with the present situation, which anyway is rapidly going out of control. Recently, on 12 August, 2013 Ramraj Sehgal, the Secretary of the GCF issued a statement fully in favour of the Trustees as if he and his associates had no individuality of their own. Ramraj Sehgal in fact hid himself behind his indecipherable signature without even typing his name above it. If this is the fear instilled in him by the present Trustees, what can we expect of the other ex-students? And what can we expect of the oppressed silent majority of the inmates who are fully dependent on the Ashram Trust for their basic needs?

Meanwhile, the people of Puducherry and Tamilnadu have come to know more about the Ashram than the Ashramites themselves.  Tamil TV channels are relaying programmes on the Ashram issue, live interviews are being conducted and Tamil magazines are full of articles on the same subject. The Communist Party of India has even issued an official statement urging the Govt to appoint an administrator for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.

I remind the readers that last month on the 26^th of July 2013, members of various political parties, cutting across party lines, joined hands together in lambasting the present administration of the Ashram Trust for forty-five minutes in the Puducherry Assembly. The Chief Minister, N. Rangasamy, then made the following statement that was reported next day in the newspapers, “Decision on Govt nominee for Aurobindo Ashram soon.”

Many of the Ashramites are blissfully ignorant of the political tsunami that is building up round the corner, and which will soon strike them before they realise what is happening, even as they continue to sing hosannahs to Sri Sri Manoj Das Gupta for his wonderful administration of the Ashram! When will some common sense percolate into them and when will they direct their praise to an object more worthy of their adoration?