The Centre has set up a 53-member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and including former PM Manmohan Singh as a member to commemorate “in a befitting manner at national and international levels” the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo.
The High Level Committee will also include former PM HD Deve Gowda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, N Rangaswamy and Bhupendra Patel, actor Rajinikanth and spiritual leaders like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.
“The committee shall provide policy direction and guidelines for formulation of programmes for the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo at the national and international levels,” says a notification issued by the Ministry of Culture on Monday.
Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on August 15, 1872 and took a leading role in secret preparations for an uprising against the British government in India. “He was the first political leader in India to openly put forward, in his newspaper Bande Mataram, the idea of complete independence for the country. Prosecuted twice for sedition and once for conspiracy, he was released each time for lack of evidence,” says the website of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
It adds how in 1908, he had the first of several fundamental spiritual realisations, withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry in order to devote himself entirely to his inner spiritual life and work, the website says.
Sri Aurobindo passed away on December 5, 1950.
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