‘We shall implement master plan designed by the Mother’: Jayanti Ravi, secretary, Auroville Foundation

Interview/ Jayanti Ravi, secretary, Auroville Foundation

Q/ When you took over, what was your idea of Auroville, and how has it changed under you?

A/ I am not new to Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. I had the privilege, way back in 2009, of working under Prof Kireet Joshi, IAS, who was the adviser to the chief minister of Gujarat. He had an inner calling and came to the ashram, gave up everything, and was with the Mother till she breathed her last. He worked with Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Murli Manohar Joshi, and then became adviser to our current PM. He is the person who drafted the Auroville Act.

So, he had told me about all the things happening here, and how the Mother’s vision of the city had to be built. He passed away in 2014. He had taught me to read Life Divine, a book by Aurobindo. It is very tough for somebody to read and understand Aurobindo, even for an intelligent person, because everything he writes is very dense.

So when I came here I knew the vision of this place was about manifesting a city, which is not like any other city where there is a lot of commercialism. It would be the most beautiful, functional, economically sufficient city. It will also have a soul and a heart.

Q/ The residents say you are trying to implement an agenda.

A/ The intentions of people when they join are good, but over time they start feeling that this is their land. This entire project initially had nothing to do with the government. But after the Mother left, it went right up to the Supreme Court. People say there were attacks, killings and bloodshed. Then, finally, the residents requested way back in the 1970s to let the government of India take over. The government of India made an act called the Emergency Provision Act in 1980. Then came the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988.

The current team is also trying to be sacrosanct and implicit in following the master plan—because the act is all about the master plan. It says we shall implement the master plan as designed by the Mother. When I joined here, I had a series of meetings with all the stakeholders because everything was in a bit of a logjam.

The land here belongs to the government as per the act. That is the starting point of the conflict… Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. It belongs to humanity as a whole, but to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor. But there were people who came here for 2-3 months, more like a vacation. Auroville is not New York or Delhi or Paris. It was meant to be something different. It is not a city with brick and mortar, but with humanity. That was the vision of the Mother.

The truth is that there were lots of complaints here. Anybody who lives in Tamil Nadu knows that drugs, trafficking and idol theft complaints and even paedophilia was happening here. So, there was a lot of tension between foreigners and Tamil villagers, because all of them had given this land as the Mother wanted.

Q/ It is said that 300 Aurovillians were forced to leave as their visas were not approved. A person named Federick has alleged that his visa wasn’t renewed.

A/ That is not true. Only two people have been given exit visa or a “Leave India” notice. I have to give the recommendation letter for them to renew their visas. But the ultimate decision is taken by the ministry of home affairs….

And 94 per cent of them have been given visas as per their request. The visas of only three people weren’t renewed. One of them was involved in drugs; one of them got a team from Delhi to protest here; and Federick was staying here for the past two years without a valid visa. He had been given an exit permit because he was staying here without a valid visa for two years. But we are considering his age, and the fact that he is also suffering from cancer. We will allow [him to stay], although he is one of the main protesters.

To read the full interview

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