Updated: September 11, 2020 8:18:57 pm
Swami Agnivesh was admitted to a Delhi hospital after suffering multiple organ failure (File / Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Social activist and leader of Arya Samaj Swami Agnivesh He passed away on Friday at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in New Delhi. He was 80 years old.
Agnivesh had been suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and was put on ventilatory support Tuesday due to multiple organ failure.
“His condition deteriorated today and he went into cardiac arrest at 6:00 pm. Resuscitation was attempted, but the unconditional died at 6:30 pm, ”said a statement from the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.
Born to a Brahmin couple in Andhra Pradesh, Swami Agnivesh renounced his name and caste, religion, family and all their belongings and properties to lead the life of a sannyasin.
He was widely known for his campaign against bonded labor through his Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Front for the Liberation of Bonded Labor) foundation. His public work prompted him to enter active politics.
Swami Agnivesh: My ideal of social justice goes against the Sangh Parivar caste
He was elected to the Haryana Assembly in 1977 and was appointed Minister of Education after two years. However, he resigned from the post in protest at the inaction of the Haryana government against the police who had opened fire on workers protesting bonded labor.
Swami Agnivesh also led several initiatives to promote interfaith peace and harmony in Kashmir at the height of militancy, his website notes. In 2010, the congressional government commissioned him to initiate a dialogue with the Maoist leaders. A year later she was part of the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare. He was forced to separate from the group after a video surfaced that allegedly showed him speaking to a minister in the congressional government. It was around this time that Swami Agnivesh appeared on the reality show Bigg Boss as a guest.
Swami Agnivesh, who was president of the Arya Samaj World Council until 2014, also angered Hindu groups for his comments on the Amarnath shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. Agnivesh, they alleged, insulted Lord Shiva by saying that the ice stalagmite has no religious significance.
In 2018, he was attacked by protesters allegedly belonging to the youth wing of the BJP in Jharkhand. Videos of the attack showed protesters asking Agnivesh to “come back” while calling him a “Pakistani agent.”
One month after, Agnivesh was assaulted about Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in New Delhi on his way to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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