Modi ally tightens grip on Auroville as residents flee
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- Jayanti Ravi, a Harvard graduate installed as Auroville's governing-board secretary in 2021, has been accused by residents of wielding "absolute authority" — dismissing employees, deciding who gets visas and restricting self-governance in the 3,300-resident community.
- Foreign-born residents, roughly half of Auroville's population, face visa denials and expulsions; four have been expelled, dozens denied renewals and hundreds wait months, while an octogenarian resident said his rejected extension left him sick and fearful for two years.
- Around 250 residents, including Indians barred from outside work, have seen their ~€200 monthly stipend withheld — a tool Ravi's critics say she uses "as a means of putting pressure on people who disagree with her."
- Tens of thousands of trees were felled to begin infrastructure for a planned 15-fold population expansion, and independent advisors flagged "opaque land transactions" after a Tamil Nadu MP alleged the city lost millions in unequal land swaps.
- Auroville Today, the community's 37-year-old English-language monthly, shut down in early 2026, saying it would be forced to publish only "positive" news under a "new media policy"; Reporters Without Borders has flagged broader press-freedom erosion under Modi since 2014.
Why it matters: Auroville's roughly 1,600 foreign residents — pioneers who planted forests and built the city over decades — have no property rights and cannot sell their €20,000–€30,000 investments, meaning visa denials effectively erase their life savings and decades of unpaid labor. The closure of Auroville Today and the Madras High Court's 2025 rejection of a residents' legal bid signal that internal checks on Ravi's administration have failed, leaving the clash between a tax-free, religion-free commune and Modi's Hindu-nationalist project to play out without meaningful oversight.
