Latest news with #SadhviRitambhara
NDTV
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
'Mistake': Sadhvi Ritambhara Apologises For 'Earning Money Being Nude' Remark
After sparking outrage with her remark that she feels ashamed to see Hindu women earn money by being nude and performing dirty dances, spiritual leader Sadhvi Ritambhara has said she apologises if anyone has been hurt by her remarks, but she felt she had a right to say what she did because she was surrounded by her loved ones. The Padma Bhushan awardee's discourse at a gathering three months ago has now gone viral in which she says in Hindi, "Hindu women, oh God. I feel ashamed to see them. Will you earn money? Will you earn money by being naked? By doing dirty dances, singing dirty songs? I don't understand how their husbands, their fathers accept this?" "People should lead a life of decency... Women of India, don't mind my saying this..." she adds. Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Friday, the spiritual leader said she believes women play a key role in families and the nation and she was not targeting women, but keeping hope in their strength. "But being unrestrained cannot be called independence. Being undisciplined is not disciplined. This is my nature... When my pain reaches a point, I share it with my loved ones. This is an old video, which has gone viral. I was trying to say that a nation becomes great because of its citizens' behaviour," she said. Asked why such comments were not made for men, Sadhvi Ritambhara added, "If women were hurt by my emotional comments, then I will definitely apologise. But when you are in the middle of your loved ones, you speak thinking you have a right over them. I love those who are shattered, but it hurts when you see unrestrained behaviour like this. This has not been the role of Indians... I am also human, I should not have said what I said, maybe if I had said 'niravaran', or 'nirvastra' or filled with values..." Classical dance, she said, is very good but what does not look good is what is shown in the "so-called reels". "Indecent behaviour does not look good. And if a woman does it or five, 10, 100 do it, all women are tarnished," she said. "What I said was not for all Hindu women. I must have forgotten to say something in the flow of speech. I am an ordinary human, I made a mistake," the spiritual leader added. When young children watch such reels, she said, it poisons their mind and does not let them focus on making their lives better and striving for a good career. "Yes I should not have said the word. I made a mistake. I know the mothers of the country will forgive me... I apologise, but my country knows me," she said.
Khaleej Times
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Dismay over top Indian award for firebrand spiritual leader
A firebrand nun accused of helping incite a mob that demolished a centuries-old mosque has been granted a top Indian government award, in a decision greeted with dismay by critics. Sadhvi Ritambhara once faced criminal charges for facilitating the destruction of the medieval-era Babri Masjid in 1992, which sparked religious riots that killed 2,000 people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a sprawling temple last year built on the ground where the mosque once stood, a reflection of the triumph of his assertive brand of Hindu-first politics. His government announced on Sunday it had decided to award Ritambhara the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, for her "contributions to social work". "It embodies the ideology and the views of the government and at the same time diminishes the value of the awards," veteran journalist Hartosh Singh Bal told AFP. Lawyer and civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan said on social media the award showed that India's civilian honours system had "degenerated to a political farce under the Modi regime". The mosque's demolition was a cause celebre among Ritambhara and other Hindu activists, who claimed it was built on the birthplace of the deity Ram. Her speeches denouncing the mosque were widely disseminated on cassette tape in the years before its destruction. Ritambhara, 61, also cheered on a crowd of thousands of Hindu volunteers outside the structure on the day it was torn apart, brick by brick. A commission investigating the Babri Masjid's demolition described her as among the people responsible for taking the country "to the brink of communal discord". She was briefly jailed after the demolition but, after years of delay, she was acquitted of all charges by a special court in 2020. The saffron-clad nun now runs a network of shelters for abandoned women and orphans. Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the Indian government, said in response to the award announcement that her charity work was "at once inspirational and humbling". Ritambhara is also the founder of a women's Hindu group known as the Army of Durga, named after a fierce Hindu goddess renowned for fighting evil. Women enlisted in the group are provided military-style combat training.
Khaleej Times
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Dismay greets firebrand Indian nun's top award
A firebrand nun accused of helping incite a mob that demolished a centuries-old mosque has been granted a top Indian government award, in a decision greeted with dismay by critics. Sadhvi Ritambhara once faced criminal charges for facilitating the destruction of the medieval-era Babri Masjid in 1992, which sparked religious riots that killed 2,000 people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a sprawling temple last year built on the ground where the mosque once stood, a reflection of the triumph of his assertive brand of Hindu-first politics. His government announced on Sunday it had decided to award Ritambhara the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, for her "contributions to social work". "It embodies the ideology and the views of the government and at the same time diminishes the value of the awards," veteran journalist Hartosh Singh Bal told AFP. Lawyer and civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan said on social media the award showed that India's civilian honours system had "degenerated to a political farce under the Modi regime". The mosque's demolition was a cause celebre among Ritambhara and other Hindu activists, who claimed it was built on the birthplace of the deity Ram. Her speeches denouncing the mosque were widely disseminated on cassette tape in the years before its destruction. Ritambhara, 61, also cheered on a crowd of thousands of Hindu volunteers outside the structure on the day it was torn apart, brick by brick. A commission investigating the Babri Masjid's demolition described her as among the people responsible for taking the country "to the brink of communal discord". She was briefly jailed after the demolition but, after years of delay, she was acquitted of all charges by a special court in 2020. The saffron-clad nun now runs a network of shelters for abandoned women and orphans. Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the Indian government, said in response to the award announcement that her charity work was "at once inspirational and humbling". Ritambhara is also the founder of a women's Hindu group known as the Army of Durga, named after a fierce Hindu goddess renowned for fighting evil. Women enlisted in the group are provided military-style combat training.
