Social activist and veteran Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh, who championed the rights of bonded labourers, passed away on Friday at the age of 81.
Critically ill, Swami Agnivesh had been admitted to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in New Delhi for treatment of “liver damage”, and died of multi-organ failure.
His body will be placed at the BMM office in Central Delhi for people to pay their tributes on Saturday, before his last rites at an ashram in Gurgaon.
In 1981, he founded the Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labour Liberation Front).
Agnivesh also fought for the rights and dignity of minorities and women. In 1987 he led a march against the Sati system. He made several efforts to secure entry of ‘untouchables’ into temples, and was one of the first signatories to the campaign to repeal Section 377 of the IPC.
In 1994, he was made the head of the UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. For his contributions, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, often called the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, in 2004.
There are numerous other memorable works of Swami Agnivesh which are quite noteworthy.
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