Jaggi Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru, released a nearly 22-minute long video on the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. This was even shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called it a “lucid explanation’ and said that Jaggi provides “provides historical context, brilliantly highlights our culture of brotherhood. He also calls out the misinformation by vested interest groups.”
The kicker in the video, however, comes when Jaggi Vasudev — who released a video that is 21 minutes and 57 seconds long on the Act — starts with: “Because I’ve not read the Act fully. I only know it from the newspapers and whatever else is generally out there.” He then goes on to reprimand the students protesting, asking them “how come they can’t read the damn Act.”
About 15 minutes after he tells the audience he’s addressing that he hasn’t read the Act, he calls students protesting “illiterate” and says that “it’s really sad that no one reads the Act".
“There is a certain desperation among certain people who misinformed illiterate masses of religious groups who went wild thinking local Indian Muslims will lose their citizenship. That’s what they conveyed. They sent out a message saying they are discriminating and all of you will lose your citizenship and they will throw you out. Well, such mischief should not have worked on the scale that it worked. It should not have. It is unfortunate. Still, in today’s day and age, where you can just open up your phone and read the Act, what does it say? What does the CAA say? But all of them are coming and behaving like illiterate people. They are studying in premier universities and how come they can’t read the damn Act? It’s really sad that no one reads the Act, everyone goes by the rumours that are going on. WhatsApp is their source of knowledge,” Jaggi says in the video.
Many called out Jaggi for his hypocrisy, when he stated that he hasn’t read the Act fully, but then berates students as he believes that they haven’t read the Act and believe in rumours.
So @SadhguruJV makes a whole video on the CAA without even reading the Act.
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) December 30, 2019
Now remember - there’s “educated” people out there who make their life decisions based on what this man says.
If one needed a terrifying thought to end the year with, this is it.
Summary of Sadhguru’s view on CAA
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) December 30, 2019
He didn’t read the act but gave a 20 minute lecture on it and then scolded students for not reading it #HypocrisyKiSeema pic.twitter.com/LIS58QKk65
"Students should read the act before opposing it. They should not behave like illiterates"
— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) December 30, 2019
- says @SadhguruJV who himself has not read the act. #IndiaDoesNotSupportCAA pic.twitter.com/eHSy7AGyoG
#DHSpeakOut |
— Deccan Herald (@DeccanHerald) December 31, 2019
Read: https://t.co/l1ijM8XY5R#JaggiVasudev #CitizenshipAmendmentAct pic.twitter.com/BjxMuWRFyS
Here are a few fact checks on some of the claims in the video.
#HinduRashtraRow | Fact-check for Sadhguru. pic.twitter.com/cHQnKldh6v
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 30, 2019
A user on Reddit also fact-checked Jaggi's claims.