NEW DELHI -- It's not environmental concerns or the love for the Yamuna or concerns about the misuse of the country's armed forces for a private event.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has accurately figured out what is fueling the opposition to the World Culture Festival, a mammoth birthday celebration by Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living.
Swamy is known for forwarding bizarre conspiracy theories on a range of subjects, but his latest punditry on the AOL row , which environmentalists believe could kill the Yamuna River and the ecology around it, takes the cake.
Swamy believes that those opposing "Sri Sri," who are mostly environmentalists and concerned citizens, are followers of Opus Dei, a conservative catholic organization.
Those against Sri Sri are TDK driven Christian forces such as Opus Dei. TDK made Vatican earlier to scuttle his Nobel Prize nomination
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 9, 2016
There is an aura of mystery about the rituals of the group, especially its practices of penance. Some of its members inflict pain on themselves by wearing a cilice, a chain which digs into the thigh, while others whip themselves with a strap.
It was portrayed in Dan Brown's hugely popular Da Vinci Code as a fanatical sect bent on wiping out the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
Swamy also believes that those opposing "Sri Sri" are led by Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who he routinely refers to as "TDK" (Tadaka), a princess who becomes a demoness in the tale of Ramayana.
Gandhi is an Indian citizen of Italian descent.
The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha today attacked the BJP-led government for allowing such an event on the bank of the Yamuna.
After a week of furore and outrage, the National Green Tribunal has allowed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to hold his event over the weekend, and fined him Rs.5 crore.
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