Swami Agnivesh — Sanyasi who fought for social causes

Swami Agnivesh, a prominent social activist and Arya Samaj leader who served as Cabinet minister in Haryana, passed away in a Delhi hospital on Friday after cardiac arrest.

He was 80. He was admitted to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in New Delhi with liver cirrhosis and was on ventilator since Tuesday due to multiple organ failure.

The hospital record confirmed 6:30 pm as the time of his death. The hospital said they attempted to revive him for half an hour before declaring Agnivesh dead.

“On Friday, his condition deteriorated and he went into cardiac arrest at 6 pm. Resuscitation was attempted, but the stalwart passed away at 6:30 pm,” the hospital authorities said.

Born as Vepa Shyama Rao on September 21, 1939, at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, Agnivesh was brought up by his maternal grandfather, who was the diwan of the princely state Sakti in present-day Chhattisgarh.

He acquired degrees in law and commerce, worked as lecturer

in St Xavier’s College in Kolkata and practised law for a while as junior to Sabyasachi Mukherji, who later rose to become the Chief Justice of India.

Agnivesh became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Haryana in 1977 and served as Cabinet Minister for Education in 1979.

In 1981, while still a minister in Haryana, he founded the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, which continued to raise issues surrounding bonded labour in India, especially in quarries in and around Delhi.

He was involved in various areas of social activism, including campaigns against female foeticide and for emancipation of women.

Agnivesh came to Haryana in 1968 to join the Arya Samaj. On March 25, 1970, Agnivesh took sanyas vows and since then, he had been donning saffron robes of a sanyasi.

He was expelled from the organisation in August 2008 after 17 of the 19 Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabhas in India expressed opposition to him.

Swami Agnivesh took part in the 2011 anti-corruption protests in Delhi under Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal Bill. He later broke away after differences with some leaders associated with the protests. The same year, he spent three days in Bigg Boss house from November 8 to 11.

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