EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE, July 6, 2000
PUNE, JULY 5: A group of seven Indian disciples of Osho including former spokesperson for the Osho Commune International Chaitanya Keerti and former commune administration in-charge Tathagat were virtually banned by the commune authorities this week.
They thus join the rank of high-profile Ma Yoga Neelam (Meelam Dhall), former secretary in India to Osho, who was denied entry in the commune unless she presented herself to the ”management team” of the commune. Neelam stirred a controversy when she spoke two weeks ago to The Indian Express against the control of three western disciples of the commune and the copyright of the entire work of Osho.
The group which went to the commune yesterday to undergo the mandatory AIDS test and get entrance passes for the Gurupurnima festival, now called ‘Osho Full Moon Festival’, beginning July 10, met the same fate. Except for former commune in-charge Tathagat (Ashok Kumar Bhaskar) who, according to Keerti, was just turned away, others were asked to see the management team, which they declined.The seven included, apart from former spokesperson Keerti and former commune in-charge Tathagat, Mansingh alias Vedant Bharati who developed the Osho Nalla Park behind the Commune in the early nineties.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
