Activists demand action against self-styled spiritual speaker for demeaning PwDs

CHENNAI: Strongly condemning the disparaging remark that “disability is the result of one's sin from previous life” by a self-proclaimed spiritual person during a motivational discourse in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Ashok Nagar a couple of days ago, disabled rights activists and member of the disabled forums have demanded the Tamil Nadu government to take stern action against the person under the provision of the Rights of Persons with Disability (PwD) Act 2016.

The issue came to light on Thursday evening after the video footage of self-styled spiritual person Mahavishnu’s address to the students of the government under the guise of motivational discourse went viral in the social media.

It attracted criticism in the social media, while activists demanded action against the officials of the school education department for encouraging such persons promoting pseudoscience among the students.

Social activists have also demanded action against Mahavishnu for demeaning differently abled persons and picking an argument with a teacher, who is visually challenged, for questioning his irrational thoughts and ideas.

State president of December 3 Movement Deepak Nathan, in a statement, said that self proclaimed spiritual person under the guise of ‘spiritual discourse’ expressed his regressive thoughts and spread pseudoscience among the students.

Pointing out Mahavishnu's disparaging remark that “being born in poverty and born with illness and disabilities is the outcome of one’s wrongdoing in his/her previous life”, Deepak wondered how a person with such regressive and anti-scientific thoughts was permitted to speak amidst the students. “We fear that such persons are trying to sow the wrong and dangerous thoughts that disability is the result of one’s sin in previous life,” he said and demanded the government to take legal action as per the section 92 (1) of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016.

He also condemned the self-styled spiritual speaker for picking an argument with a teacher, who is a visually challenged person, for questioning his speech filled with irrational thoughts. He demanded the government to take appropriate action against the education department officials for roping in such persons under the guise of a motivational discourse programme.

S Nambu Rajan of TARADAC also joined the issue and said that giving space for self-styled spiritual speakers in the time of the Artificial Intelligence era is condemnable. There were multiple scientifically proven reasons for disabilities, but infusing wrong ideas among the younger generation for disabilities is unacceptable. “We want the government to take corrective measures to avert such incidents in the future,” he said.