Sri Sri Ravi Shankar did say he would decline Nobel

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s organisation, The Art of Living, issued a statement on Tuesday in response to an uproar sparked off by the guru’s recent comments against the Nobel Peace prize and its recipient Malala Yousafzai. AOL clarified that Sri Sri, as he is known to followers, had been asked by a journalist at a press conference in Latur, which he was visiting in connection with the organisation’s water conservation project, “Are you doing this work for the Nobel Prize ”

According to AOL, the guru replied, “Not at all. What will I do with a prize We have been doing social work for years now and it has not been for prizes. When good work is done, people think it is for a prize. There is no logic in this.”

He went on to say, “When a 16-year-old girl without any body of work, gets the prize, you get the sense that you don’t need to do much to get the Peace Prize. There are political factors at play.”

Someone had told him you have to lobby for the prize, according to AOL. Sri Sri refused saying “I will not do so”. However, the video of the press conference clearly shows the guru being asked another question too: “If you are given the prize, would you decline ” He can be heard replying, in Hindi, “Of course. Some people had come to me saying if you want the prize you’ll have to do this I said, it is a political thing, I will not get into it.”

He was then asked, “Was it wrong that Malala got the prize ” and retorted saying, “What else What has she done, the 16-year-old girl ”