Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says Malala did not deserve Nobel Prize

It seems the controversy around his World Culture Festival was not enough for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The spiritual leader on Saturday gave the perfect example of how to put your foot in your mouth when he said that Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for women’s education, did not deserve the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, according to Hindustan Times .

“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,” HT quoted Sri Sri as saying.

Sri Sri made these remarks in Latur while he was on a visit to the drought-ravaged region of Maharashtra, according to NDTV .

Reporter: Malala ko puraskaar mila to kya galat thaa?
SriSri Ravi Shankar: Aur kya? Uss ladki ne kuch bhi nahin kiya pic.twitter.com/961EKb9d5e

— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2016

Sri Sri then went a step further and claimed that he had, in fact, rejected the Nobel Peace Prize. “I was in the past offered the Nobel Peace Prize, but I had rejected it as I only believe in working and not in being honoured for my work. We should always honour only to those who deserve it and I am totally against honouring Malala Yousafzai with the prize and it is of no use,” Deccan Chronicle quoted him as saying.

Malala Yousafzai has always stood up for education for women and girls in her native region of Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, a region infamous for being controlled by local Taliban where girls had been banned at times from attending school.

She was also shot by the Taliban in the head due to her activism.

But of course, standing up for women’s rights in a region where doing that can get you killed is doing “nothing”, according to Sri Sri.

When you make a statement as stupid and petty as Sri Sri’s remark on Yousafzai, you can almost guarantee that Twitter will explode with reactions, some of them being quite hilarious.

By saying that Malala got the Nobel for politics, Sri Sri has done some (flood)plain speaking

— Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) May 3, 2016

And the 'grapes are sour' award goes to .... Sri Sri Ravi Ravi Shankar Shankar

— saliltripathi (@saliltripathi) May 3, 2016

Sri Sri should continue to refuse Nobel Prize till they call it Nobel Nobel Prize

— Joy (@Joydas) May 2, 2016

Sri Sri claims he was offered the Nobel but rejected it as he doesn't believe in awards. Here are ones he accepted: pic.twitter.com/KwrivKP8mg

— Siddharth Singh (@siddharth3) May 2, 2016