RSS and BJP’s quiet takeover of Auroville

This story is the first from our series: 'The Spirituality Industry: A Deep Reporting Project', in which we will look at various religious cults in the country, where they get their funds from, their secrets and why they are attractive among certain age groups, communities, etc. Read the second part here.

As you step into Auroville, you’re met with roads that emerge suddenly only to vanish just as abruptly. Once a symbol of tranquility, the township now mirrors the bustling transformation of any Indian city—the landscape is punctuated with road construction, trees are reduced to logs and piled along the pathways, and bulldozers… well, bulldoze their way forward. And these are also the visible signs of the conflict raging inside Auroville. A redevelopment project that has become a focal point of contention.

Auroville, nestled within the Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu with some parts in Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry, is an experimental township and possibly one of its kind in world history. It was founded in 1968 by French-born Mirra Alfassa, a spiritual guru and ardent follower of Sri Aurobindo, the Indian philosopher, poet, and freedom fighter. She later came to be known as The Mother.

The township’s inauguration ceremony was attended by delegates from 124 nations, and the city and its residents at that point had declared that Auroville belonged to nobody, that those who become residents—they call themselves Aurovilians—will have no caste, creed or nationality.

In 1988, the Government of India, with Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister, passed the Auroville Foundation Act to bring the township under legal protection and administration.

The foundation of Auroville was built on ideals of peace and unity, but it now finds itself entangled in conflict and unrest. The battle rages over land, trees, politics, and control, but at its core lies a deeper struggle—the fight to define what Auroville truly stands for.

Depending on whom you ask, the latest developments in Auroville are either a step toward fulfilling the vision of The Mother, or a grotesque distortion of her dreams, manipulated to serve the political ambitions of a few. The Mother wanted to expand Auroville into a township of 50,000 people. 

At the centre of this storm stands Jayanti Ravi, an IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, who took charge as the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation in 2021. The new administration led by her has embarked on a rapid and forceful transformation—building infrastructure, pushing forward a contested version of the ‘master plan’, and introducing programmes that many believe carry unmistakable undertones of a right-wing, Hindutva agenda. 

Many Auroville residents say that the political interference, now involving Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi who was inducted into the Governing Board, is an existential threat to Auroville’s founding ideals.

In its bid to gain a stronger foothold in Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been seeking a cultural icon to rally around. Past attempts to appropriate Tamil poets Thiruvalluvar and Subramania Bharati faced intense pushback. Now, the party seems to have found a more fitting figure in Aurobindo Ghosh, whose blend of nationalism and spirituality aligns well with its ideological narrative.

In this two-part series, we explore the various points of contention shaping the battle for Auroville’s future. 

In the first installment, we look at the cultural shifts underway and the growing resistance against them, and Aurobindo’s political philosophy, rooted in religious nationalism, which provides an ideal ideological foundation for the BJP’s brand of politics.

In the second part of our series, we take a look at claims that the new administration is altering The Mother’s Galaxy plan, fast-tracking roads, infrastructure, and even reshaping the landscape. And why many residents suspect this to be part of a broader BJP-RSS strategy to create a ‘federal enclave’ in Tamil Nadu.

A new authoritarian administration

The township is home to around 3,000 Aurovilians, who hail from nearly 60 countries. Many have lived here longer than in their countries of birth. Over the decades, Auroville has developed its own culture—an amalgamation of traditions, philosophies, and a distinct interpretation of Hinduism shaped by its diverse residents.

But what remained on the backburner is a plan that the Mother envisaged. She wanted an expansion of Auroville, in size and number, allowing 50,000 residents to be accommodated. She called it the Galaxy plan and apparently described it to Roger Anger, a French architect personally chosen by her as Auroville’s chief architect.