During an interaction with students at the London School of Economics on March 31, spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev described a Muslim student named Bilal bin Saqib as Taliban. The video clip of the interaction was shared widely on social media, forcing Vasudev to issue a clarification and an apology for the same.

“He is a proper Talibaniya,” Vasudev said to Saqib during their conversation. Vasudev was at the LSE to participate in a programme titled “Youth and Truth: Unplug with Sadhguru”, organised by the students’ union. The union issued a statement soon after the video surfaced, referring to Sadhguru’s comments and views as Islamophobic. “If the comments were made in jest, this does not lessen their impact – the words still offend,” the statement read.

In a video statement, Vasudev said he had “no intention to abuse or insult” Bilal. He also added that the video clip of his interaction with Bilal was “mischievously edited”, an allegation that has been denied by the organisers of the event. Vasudev also claimed that he had used the word “Taliban” to mean “ardent student”.