rediff.com, June 24, 2000
Eminent litterateur and former member of Parliament Amrita Pritam has criticised the move to ban Ma Yoga Neelam, former secretary to Osho Rajneesh, in the wake of the controversy over the ownership of copyright to his works.
In a statement in New Delhi, Pritam asked: ”Osho creates sufis, how come these people have become maulvis?” and added that whatever was going on in the name of Osho did not fit in with his image. She wondered who were the people denying entry to Neelam, who had been associated with Osho for 30 years.
She suspected that there were some other powers behind the people at the Pune commune who had banned her entry. She asked: Can the doors of the divine ever be closed? The guru is like an open sky. Osho did not believe in copyrights. If Osho himself decides to return today, these people may not even allow him to enter as they no longer need him.
In addition to being a Jnanpeeth awardee, she was recently bestowed the Poetess of the Millennium award by the Delhi government.
According to Swami Chaitanya Keerti, a senior member of the commune who is camping in the capital, disciples of the Osho held a spontaneous dharna at the Rajyoga meditation centre, on learning about the ban.
Inquiries were received from many parts of the world, besides India, he said.
UNI
