Agnivesh heckled on way to pay homage to Vajpayee

Alleges 20-30 BJP workers attacked him near BJP headquarters

A group of people allegedly heckled social activist Swami Agnivesh in New Delhi on Friday.

Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh was allegedly heckled by a group of people near the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters here when he was on his way to pay homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“I was attacked while walking towards the BJP headquarters to pay my respects to Mr. Vajpayee. Around 20-30 BJP workers surrounded me and pushed me. My pagri fell and they started calling me a traitor,” Mr. Agnivesh said. A video of the alleged attack circulating on social media showed some people heckling the 79-year-old social activist.

‘Kept abusing me’

A woman is seen raising her footwear at the former politician.

“They pushed me towards the Vishnu Digamber roundabout and kept abusing me. Some policemen were standing there but these persons, including some women, kept abusing me,” he added. Following this, Mr. Agnivesh was asked to get into a van by the Delhi Police and moved to a safer place. The social activist claimed he had informed BJP leader and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan before his visit to the BJP headquarters.

After the incident, supporters of Mr. Agnivesh filed a complaint at Parliament Street police station about the assault and derogatory remarks made by the accused. In the complaint, they wondered how such an incident could take place despite heavy security. The mortal remains of Mr. Vajpayee were kept at the BJP headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg here for people to pay homage. However, Mr. Agnivesh had to return without paying his respects to Mr. Vajpayee due to the assault.

Earlier assaults

Last month, he was allegedly assaulted by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists during his visit to Jharkhand’s Pakur. He was attending a programme concerning the Paharia tribe at Littipara stadium there.

(with inputs from PTI)