New Delhi: Social activist Swami Agnivesh, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis for a long time, died of multi-organ failure at a Delhi hospital. He was 80.
The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Delhi said in a statement that his condition began deteriorating this evening and he suffered a heart attack at 6 pm.
Doctors tried to resuscitate him but failed, and he was declared dead at 6.30 pm. A social activist and a religious leader who fought against bonded and child labour, for women’s rights and for religious tolerance, news of Swami Agnivesh’s death was greeted with shock and sorrow, with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi among those who tweeted.
Born into a Brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh, Swami Agnivesh came to be known for his campaign against bonded labour through his foundation Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labor Liberation Front). His public work spurred him to enter active politics.
He was elected to the Haryana Assembly in 1977 and was made Education Minister after two years. He, however, resigned from the post in protest against the Haryana government’s alleged inaction against police who had opened fire at workers protesting bonded labour.