A path toward healing and reform

AVToday: The decisions of the Auroville Foundation’s Governing Board and Secretary have not only affected many Aurovilians but also you personally when the Auroville Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against you and others. What exactly happened?

Chali: The matter is still pending investigation by the police so I won’t go into too much detail. Basically, in 2022, the Auroville Foundation Office filed a police complaint against me and five others, supposedly for refusing to vacate the Working Committee office and hand over access to the computer/email passwords. The main issue, though, was a dispute over who the legitimate members of the Working Committee were. An RAD (Residents’ Assembly Decision-making process) was called by residents in May of 2022 to confirm the membership of the Working Committee. The result of the RAD was that residents overwhelmingly voted to dismiss four members and reconfirm three of us. In the middle of the RAD, four members tried to remove three of us as members, which we considered unjustified and even illegal. The Secretary supported the decision of the four and escalated the situation by calling the police in an attempt to take over the office. Many residents were there in the Town Hall to show their objection to the attempted takeover.

The charges listed in the FIR were criminal ones: criminal trespass, trespass with intent to harm, inciting a riot, obstructing a civil servant, and several cybercrimes. I wasn't even in India at the time, but my name was included on the grounds that I was “instigating (these actions) from abroad”. Even though we didn’t break any laws so the charges are false and were clearly made to scare and intimidate us, we had to go to the courts to avoid possibly getting arrested. We were granted anticipatory bail, which is a relief, but we are all in limbo in a way while we wait for the process with the police and the court to be finished. We are sure they will see the lack of truth in the FIR and dismiss the charges, but it takes time. The question of who the legitimate Working Committee members are is still pending in separate cases at the Madras High Court.

Why was this episode so particularly painful for you?

The police complaint was signed by Mr Srinivasamurthy, the then Under Secretary of Auroville, someone we had interacted and worked with for decades, and considered a friend. Although I was deeply shocked, I could also understand, on some level, that he was following orders from the Secretary, his superior, and felt he had no choice. But what really hurt was that even afterward, no personal message came — nothing to acknowledge the long relationship we had and the impact this would have on me and possibly my life in Auroville. It took me over two years to be able to speak to him again.

The group you are a member of, known as the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly, has been very active in objecting to or opposing some of the decisions of the Governing Board and of the committees it has formed or approved. What is your stand?

In essence, it has to do with the interpretation of the Auroville Foundation Act and the Auroville Foundation Rules. We are defending the spirit of Auroville and the voice of the residents, the people who have dedicated their lives to and built Auroville.

Our role in the current situation is a bit different than it was. One of the main tasks we carry out is to make sure that the community and, at times, the wider Auroville family, is informed of the actions and decisions of the Governing Board, the Secretary, and their appointed committees, particularly those which we believe are violating the spirit of Auroville as well as the letter and spirit of the Auroville Foundation Act, or which are propagating false narratives. We also make sure to systematically put on record objections to many of the decisions made by the Governing Board, the Foundation Office, and its appointees, even if these get no response, as well as our repeated call for true collaboration with the Residents’ Assembly and its appointed bodies. Another role we play is advising and supporting people who are negatively impacted by their administrative decisions. A third is taking legal action when we believe it is needed and supporting other Aurovilians in doing so. We inform the community about our work regularly.

Auroville Today has often published summaries of your reports in its News in Brief section. Does your reporting have any impact on the Governing Board and its committees?

Unfortunately, no. The Board ignores us, bypasses the Residents’ Assembly and largely ignores the International Advisory Council, which has not met with the Governing Board since last year. Even the minutes of the meetings of the Governing Board are not published or are published very late. Most of the time in the last few years, these minutes have only been obtained through RTI (Right to Information) requests. The Board and its committees have this in common, as well as the pattern of making decisions without any consultation with the wider body of residents or taking any advice from the International Advisory Council. There is no real collaboration at all, even though they pay lip service to that word.

Have you and your fellow Working Committee members ever discussed if some kind of healing would be possible?

Yes. But we need to make a distinction between the Governing Board and its Secretary, who are not interested in real dialogue, and the Aurovilians who are working for them. A healing with the Secretary and Board doesn’t seem likely and I don’t believe they are interested in that. A healing with the Aurovilians might be possible. But one of the deepest wounds that has been inflicted is the loss of trust, and any healing, even if well-intended and sincere, will take time — it's definitely not going to happen overnight. The healing possibilities will depend on what the person has been doing in these years, and for what reasons.

How would you approach healing with Aurovilians?

Speaking personally, if I see a genuine acknowledgement of responsibility, some expression of remorse, I can forgive. Not forget, necessarily, but at least forgive. There doesn’t have to be an abject apology but at least some kind of statement that things could have been done differently and that maybe things went too far. That was what Mr Srinivasamurthy did after he retired from the Foundation Office and the Civil Service: he published a public apology in the News and Notes. That, for me, opened the doors once again. Of course, by then he had gone through his own hardships with the Foundation Office, which ended with him being suspended three months before his retirement, for what were probably fabricated reasons. This reinforced what I've often seen with this and other tyrants and their regimes: people think they are safe because they are in a certain position, but in the end, nobody is safe and everybody is disposable. Mr Srinivasmurty and I met by chance last year at the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture and I could express how hurt I had been, but that his public apology had opened the door that allowed me to take a step towards healing my friendship with him. He was very touched, and so was his wife. That helped me to put this issue to rest. He had taken the step of taking responsibility, acknowledging the hurt he had caused and apologising for this.

Did this experience help you in conceiving how a general healing might be possible?

I came to realise that there are different ‘categories’. Some people have wholeheartedly embraced and initiated destructive and divisive actions, often done with impunity, that have caused real difficulties on many levels to their fellow residents, and that have violated the spirit and intent of Auroville. There are others who have used their position for personal financial gain or for other self-interest. There are those who want to feel important and have control and power, either because they think that they’re better and can do better than anybody else, or because they feel that they have been slighted and marginalised before. There are those who sincerely believe that they are working for the realisation of The Mother’s ideals, some to an extent which, for me, borders on ‘religious fanaticism’, which justifies to them the hurt they are causing fellow Aurovilians. They believe that the end justifies the means, forgetting that how we get to our goal is just as important as getting there, particularly in this yoga and in Auroville. Lastly, there are people who have a skeleton in their closet, who have something to hide, which they are afraid will come out if they don’t do what they are being told to do, or which is known to those in power who use this to force them to do their bidding or stay silent.

So how do you propose to deal with all these different categories?

There are people who propose that we forget about the past and just move on. I do not share that. We can’t just pretend that the last four years didn’t happen. We can’t ignore the willful destruction and hurt that has been caused. So yes, we have to move on at some point, but not without some kind of process.

I feel that there are a small number of people who should be made to leave Auroville for some time or permanently, those who have crossed acceptable limits and have been actively involved in the attack on the body and spirit of Auroville, and those who have engaged in corruption or violence.

There are others who I think should not be asked to leave but would need to be restricted from holding any position of responsibility in Auroville’s governance or management structure for a certain period of time.

So you are not in favour of a Truth and Reconciliation process as was done in South Africa?

The truth first has to be there. Reconciliation can start after there’s been some acknowledgement of responsibility and perhaps an expression of remorse or regret. I don’t think any existing process would be appropriate to transplant as a whole but I’m sure something that synthesises aspects of different ‘healing processes’ could be found or developed specifically for Auroville. And it’s likely that different processes will be needed for different people rather than expecting that one process can be applied to the whole community with all its diversity.

Some people feel protected because they are functioning under the umbrella of the Governing Board and its Secretary. What is your take on this?

They may be less safe than they think. We have seen time and again that once people aren’t considered useful anymore they are discarded or sidelined by the Secretary and/or the Governing Board. And on another level, I do believe in karma and the Governing Board and the Secretary can’t protect anyone from that.

Apart from addressing wrongdoings of the past, healing also implies looking at the future. You yourself have on quite a few occasions acknowledged that Auroville has made mistakes, that we were stuck on some levels and areas. How do you see that we can evolve?

An American friend recently shared with me a one-page manifesto published in the New York Times, put together by a large number of US citizens. It outlined the values and principles they stand for. I think something similar might be very useful in Auroville’s present conditions, to renew our commitment to the Charter, the Dream and the core values and principles that are given to us and that we have committed to by coming to Auroville and dedicating our lives to it and to Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

As far as moving forward in the day-to-day work of building Auroville and developing the different sectors of society, one idea is to invite qualified, independent outside researchers and facilitators to help us go further in the many areas of Auroville. I’m talking about specialists who would work with focus teams consisting of Aurovilians and outsiders on specific issues of Auroville, and come up with proposals for progress.

In late 2023, Prof. Raag Yadava published a 900-page (including annexures) framework study on governance, in which he gave his in-depth views on more than 14 areas of Auroville. I’m not proposing that they engage in more studieṣ, since there have already been so many, but that each research team could take those studies as a basis, sift through them and distill what is useful for taking the next step, taking the present situation into account but using past experience and learning as a springboard. I’ve spoken to Prof. Yadava. He’s willing to help. I believe this work could help revive Auroville’s community spirit and accelerate Auroville’s growth and progress on all levels, not only in the area of physical development.