New Delhi: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said that he would never accept the Nobel Peace Price as he criticised its conferral upon Pakistani Malala Yousafzai.
“Nowadays, there is no value to the Nobel Prize. When you award it to a 16-year-old girl who hasn’t done anything, what value is left? It has become a political prize,” the Art of Living founder, who was in Latur, Maharashtra to take a look at the drought conditions, said.
The 59-year-old also said that he had once turned down the award.
“Some people approached me... I was told to do certain things to get the prize. I refused to get drawn into these politics,” he said.
When asked by a journalist if he it was wrong to have awarded Yousafzai, Sri Sri responded, “Aur kya (of course).”
17-year-old Pakistani girl was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2014, becoming the youngest to receive the prestigious award at age 17.
Yousafzai has been a vocal activist for education for girls. She was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 in Pakistan, after which she moved UK. Yousafzai shared that year’s Nobel with India’s Kailash Satyarthi.
