Involved as mediator in Ram temple dispute of my own will: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

NEW DELHI: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar today said he was involved as a mediator in the Ram Temple dispute of his own will and would visit Ayodhya on November 16 to meet all the stakeholders.

The Congress had last month dubbed Shankar a "government agent" who was representing its interests in the Ram Temple dispute in Ayodhya.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan had said the Supreme Court made it very clear that a settlement was possible, but he asked as to who had appointed people like the Art of Living Foundation chief to take charge.

The spiritual leader told reporters that he would pay a courtesy visit to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"It was out of my own will that he was involved as a mediator in Ram Temple issue," he said.

Shankar confirmed that he would be visiting Ayodhya and said, "I do not have an agenda in this issue and will listen to everybody during the visit."

He had offered to mediate in the Ram Temple row for an out-of-court settlement.

The spiritual leader took part in the 13th Nehru Memorial Lecture at JNU and answered a wide variety of questions from the audience.

To a question on the killing of a Ryan school student, he advised parents to not let their children play violent video games and watch television for long durations.

"Children cannot make out the difference between the virtual and real world. They carry the same attitude even in the real world. I advise parents to not let their kids do this," he said.

On the alarming pollution levels in Delhi, Shankar said mulching technique was a better option and farmers needed to be taught to stop stubble burning.

"We have done this in Telangana's Warangal. The farmers need to be educated on this," he said.