Row linked to Mata Amritanandamayi mutt refuses to die down

A group of intellectuals in Kerala has protested the alleged planned move to block news reports against Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt, which is in a row after a former disciple came out with allegations against the institution and its leader.

In a signed statement poet ONV Kurup, writer Zacharia, journalist BRP Bhasker and Swami Sandeepananda Giri protested the move. They said the government bears the responsibility of bringing out truth behind the allegations.

The silence observed by mainstream media and political parties has to be taken been seriously, they said.

Meanwhile, a senior RSS ideologue P Prameswaran led a march here raising concern over the "allegations" against the mutt and Amritanandamayi.

The mutt and the saint were rocked after an Australian writer Gail Tredwell wrote a book in which she narrated her bitter experiences when she was an inmate of the institution.

Tredwell has claimed in her book - Holy hell: A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness - that she was a close disciple of the ashram founder Mata Amritanandamayi and lived in the Kollam-based mutt for several years before escaping from there following bitter experiences.

Recently, Malayalam Television Channel 'People', controlled by CPI-M in the state, aired an interview of Tredwell, in which she came out with more allegations.

The mutt had recently refuted the charges and said the functioning of the institution was transparent and "it is an open book".