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150 inmates of Aurobindo Ashram on 3 days dharna
About 150 inmates of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram here on Sunday embarked upon a 3 days dharna demanding that trustees managing the ashram be dismissed.
The inmates, staging the protest outside the ashram premises, said in the release that the Trust should publicly condemn the "insulting" book and withdraw the copyright permission to the Columbia University Press which has published the book.
The release said the Union Home Ministry had "issued instuctions" to various State governments and Union Territories to stop its publication, sales and distribution.
The Orissa government had through Gazette notification in 2009 proscribed the book and declared its contents `inflammatory in nature and ordered all copies of the book be forfeited`.
Meanwhile, a source in the Ashram Trust said "according to many, who have written to the Ashram in appreciation of the book, those who found the book to be offensive have either not read it in its entirety or have clearly misunderstood its import."
The source also said the question whether the author of the book can stay in India or not was entirely a matter "exclusively within the purview of the Union Home Ministry."
The Ashram was founded in 1926. Aurobindo passed away in 1950 while the Mother died in 1973. The Mother (Mira Alfassa) founded Aurobindo International Centre of Education in 1952 and the international township of Auroville, 10 km from here, in 1968.
PTI