Two days after yoga guru Baba Ramdev tweeted in support of industrial group Vedanta, which has been facing the heat over its Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi, another popular yoga teacher, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, on Wednesday tweeted against closing the Sterlite plant.
Sadhguru tweeted, “Am not an expert on copper smelting but I know India has immense use for copper. If we don't produce our own, of course we will buy from China. Ecological violations can be addressed legally. Lynching large businesses is economic suicide.”
Am not an expert on copper smelting but I know India has immense use for copper. If we don't produce our own, of course we will buy from China. Ecological violations can be addressed legally. Lynching large businesses is economic suicide.-Sg @Zakka_Jacob @CMOTamilNadu@PMOIndia
— Sadhguru (@SadhguruJV) June 27, 2018
Interestingly, in his tweet, Sadhguru tagged the Twitter handles of the Prime Minister's Office and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Office, in addition to the handle of a popular TV journalist.
The Tamil Nadu government issued orders for the permanent closure of the Sterlite plant in late May after 13 people were killed in police firing on May 22 during protests against the facility in Thoothukudi. Local residents and activists had been agitating against the Sterlite plant for nearly two decades, alleging the facility was polluting the environment.
Sadhguru was in the news for much of 2017 for his 'Rally for Rivers' campaign to preserve rivers and promote afforestation. Recently, Sadhguru had conducted yoga sessions with Indian Army personnel.
On Monday, Ramdev had tweeted in praise of Vedanta owner Anil Agarwal and had alleged international conspirators were behind the agitation in Thoothukudi. Ramdev's tweets generated a backlash on social media, with many users calling for a boycott of his Patanjali brand.
While Sadhguru referred to the necessity of indigenous copper production in his tweet on the issue, Ramdev had lauded Agarwal for generating lakhs of jobs.