Social activist Swami Agnivesh died after a cardiac arrest Friday evening at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Delhi. He was 80 years old.
Admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, Swami Agnivesh was being treated for liver cirrhosis and had been on ventilator support following multi-organ failure.
“His condition deteriorated today and he went into cardiac arrest at 6:00 PM. Resuscitation was attempted but the stalwart passed away at 6:30 PM,” said a statement by the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.
The mortal remains of Swami Agnivesh will be kept at his Jantar Mantar residence from 11 am to 2 pm for Antim Darshan. The last rites will take place in Gurugram at 4 pm on Saturday.
Swami Agnivesh, who would have turned 81 this month, had started his career as a lecturer as St Xavier’s College in Kolkata. He later practised law as a junior to Sabyasachi Mukherji who later would become Chief Justice of India.
Agnivesh founded a political party, Arya Sabha, that was based on the principles of the Arya Samaj in 1970. He was also an advocate for the dialogue between religions.
He was involved with several social movements including Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption’s campaign in 2011 to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill.
including campaigns against female foeticide and the emancipation of women.
Agnivesh was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Haryana in 1977 and served as a cabinet Minister for Education in 1979.
Swami Angnivesh was in last in news in 2018 for being heckled several times by the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The right-wing outfits were upset with Agnivesh due to his alleged support to Christian missionaries in Jharkhand and his comments on the beef controversy.