World Cultural Festival

World Cultural Festival (WCF) was held on the Yamuna floodplains in New Delhi from 11–13 March 2016.[1] It was organised by Ravi Shankar to celebrate the Art of Living Foundation’s 35 years in service.[2] It was reported to have been attended by 3.5 million people in audience and 37,000 artists over 3 days.[3] The performances were held on a 100 feet tall by 1,200 feet wide stage with an area of seven acres.[4] Initially, around 1,700 officials were deployed for traffic management for the World Cultural Festival and around 300 were on standby for the other events to be held during the same time.[5] Another festival by the same name was also held by this foundation at Berlin Olympic Stadium in 2011.[6]

Rajasthani Artists' green room at the World Cultural Festival 2016 held in New Delhi.
Argentinean Performers on the World Cultural Festival's stage.

The 2016 event was chaired by Justice RC Lahoti.[7] Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali from United Nations was also listed as a co-chair for the event but he died prior to the event. Some other committee members included Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers; Nancy Pelosi, Katherine Clark and Ed Witfield from United States Congress; and former Lithuanian president Vytautas Landsbergis.[8] It was attended by various global and local religious and political leaders.[9] Participants included former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, Vice-President of Suriname Ashwin Adhin and Karu Jayasuriya from the Sri Lankan Parliament.[10] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also in audience and compared the festival to a “kumbh mela” of art.[11] Other Indian leaders including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Devendra Fadnavis, Raman Singh and Manish Sisodia attended the event on 12 March 2016.[12] The last day of the event was attended by many BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.[13]

The event was also promoted as an interfaith meet and attended by religious leaders like Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, Mufti Mohammed Saeed Khan, Shankaracharya Vasudevanand Saraswati among others.[14]

The festival was highly criticized in the Indian news media for environmental reasons.[15] The foundation was involved in a legal battle with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which allowed the festival to be held after a fine of ₹5 crore (US$700,000).[16] The Art of Living Foundation questioned the findings by the tribunal and has since then submitted a plea in the Supreme Court of India.[17][18][19] President Pranab Mukherjee declined to attend the event after first accepting the invitation due to concerns about environment law violations.[20] Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe also pulled out of the event citing security and protocol issues.[21] A separate enclosure had to be constructed for Narendra Modi also due to a security threat.[22]

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull invited Art of Living Foundation to Australia for the next World Culture Festival.[9]

References
  1. "As it happened: 'This is the Kumbh Mela of culture'", The Hindu, 11 March 2016
  2. "LIVE: Watch - Art of Living's World Culture Festival 2016– Day 3", Zee News, 13 March 2016
  3. "The World Culture Festival was a sight to behold". Star2.com. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  4. Perappadan, Bindu Shajan (15 April 2016). "Art of Living stage finally dismantled". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  5. "Sri Sri's World Culture Festival and rain choke Delhi roads", Mail Today, 12 March 2016
  6. Jacobs, Stephen (1 October 2014). "Inner Peace and Global Harmony: Individual Wellbeing and Global Solutions in the Art of Living". Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research. 6 (4): 873–889. doi:10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146873. ISSN 2000-1525.
  7. "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival: Things to look out for". The Indian Express. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  8. "Art of Living announces World Culture Fest to be held in March 2016". dna. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  9. "Art of Living event: Global leaders hail Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival". The Financial Express. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  10. "Foreign nationals, including 80 from Pakistan, participate in Art of Living fest". Deccan Chronicle. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  11. "If we damn ourselves, why will world take note of us: PM Modi at Sri Sri's World Culture Festival". The Indian Express. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  12. "Top Union Ministers, NDA CMs attend World Cultural Festival", Daily News and Analysis, 12 March 2016
  13. "Don't Politicise Such Events, Says Sri Sri As World Culture Festival Ends", NDTV, 14 March 2016
  14. Kakr, Sanjiv. "The World Culture Festival Isn't 'Crony Spiritualism'". The Diplomat. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  15. "Why India's huge 'spiritual' festival has run into trouble". BBC News. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  16. "Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu backs Art of Living's world cultural festival", The Economic Times, 11 March 2016
  17. "Art of Living questions expert panel's Yamuna floodplains findings". The Economic Times. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  18. Mittal, Priyanka (2 February 2018). "SC notice on plea against environment compensation imposed on Art of Living for damage to Yamuna floodplains". Mint. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  19. "Vyakti Vikas Kendra India vs Manoj Misra on 5 September, 2018". indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  20. DelhiMarch 7, IndiaToday in New; March 7, 2016UPDATED; Ist, 2016 17:54. "After environment row, President Pranab Mukherjee pulls out of Sri Sri's mega event". India Today. Retrieved 20 December 2018.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. "Mugabe must resign over India trip". www.zimbabwesituation.com. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  22. "Sri Sri Event Cleared With 5 Crore Fine And Separate Enclosure For PM". NDTV.com. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
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