Bill passed to control Brahmachari’s Gurugram ashram, Congress protests
Amid protests from the Opposition Congress, the Haryana Assembly today passed a Bill to take over the management and control of the late Yoga Guru Dhirendra Brahmachari’s Aparna Ashram Society in Gurugram.
Highlights
- Govt to take over Aparna Ashram Society, running a 24-acre yoga centre in Gurugram’s Silokhra
- Administrator to be appointed due to long-standing factional disputes
- Congress opposes the move, calling it unconstitutional, as the Society is registered in Delhi
- Govt defends takeover, citing attempts to illegally sell the land at undervalued prices
As soon as Industries Minister Rao Narbir Singh introduced the Bill, senior Congress MLA BB Batra opposed it, calling it “illegal” and against constitutional provisions.
“As the Aparna Ashram Society is registered in New Delhi, the Haryana Government has no locus standi to take over its assets,” Batra said.
Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda supported him, arguing that there was no need for a special Bill since the state government had existing legal provisions to take control of the ashram.
However, Rao Narbir Singh defended the Bill, citing a long-standing legal dispute between two factions of the society.
“The state government is only taking over the management of the ashram as the warring factions were involved in multiple litigations and were illegally trying to sell its 24-acre land in Gurugram, valued at hundreds of crores,” he said.
Dismissing Congress' objections, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the Bill did not violate any Central law.
“The primary purpose of this Bill is to ensure that the land of the institution does not fall into the wrong hands and that its benefits continue to reach the people,” Saini said.
Under the Bill’s provisions, an administrator will be appointed to manage the ashram on behalf of the state government.
“There is every likelihood that the movable and immovable properties of the institution may get destroyed, frustrating the very purpose for which it was created,” the Bill said.
Yoga Guru Dhirendra Brahmachari, a former yoga instructor to Indira Gandhi, founded Aparna Ashram in Gurugram’s Silokhra (Sector 30). After his death in a 1994 plane crash, the society split into two warring factions, led by Laxman Chaudhary and Murali Chaudhry.
The Haryana Government justified its takeover by citing attempts by the disputing groups to sell the ashram’s 24-acre land for personal gain.
A major controversy erupted in December 2020 when a sale deed for 24 acres in Silokhra village was registered for just Rs 55 crore. A state government inquiry later found that the land was sold to three companies at a highly undervalued price. The Gurugram Deputy Commissioner cancelled the sale deed, a decision later upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
