The mob that attacked me has a very distinct face — it’s a BJP-RSS face: Swami Agnivesh

Swami Agnivesh | ThePrint.in

Social activist, attacked twice in 2 months, says RSS using proxies to target him; is ‘disheartened’ no one from BJP condemned the attacks.

New Delhi: Social activist Swami Agnivesh, who has been assaulted twice by mobs in the last two months, Wednesday told ThePrint that far from being “faceless”, the mobs that targeted him had “a very distinct BJP and RSS face”.

Agnivesh also described the RSS as a “hydra-headed monster,” which, he said, uses its many proxies to target those whose ideology it disagrees with.

Last week, Agnivesh was chased and pushed by a mob near the BJP headquarters in Delhi, where he had gone to pay respects to former prime minister, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“The mob had a very distinct face, it is a BJP face, it is an RSS face and those of all their allied organisations,” Agnivesh, who is known for his work against bonded labour, told ThePrint in an interview.

He, however, said what really worries him was the normalisation of violence that has hit the country in the last few years. People do not even bat an eyelid when someone is attacked, he said.

“People were standing by and enjoying when I was being beaten outside the BJP headquarters… It was so scary to watch, to see this culture of violence, hatred and bigotry,” he added.

BJP silence deafening

Agnivesh pointed out that the entire BJP dispensation has remained silent on his assault, even though, he said, he had informed Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan of the attack on the day it occurred —17 August.

“It is so disheartening that no one from the BJP and NDA – some of them my friends — is calling me to ask what happened,” he said. “I think all of them are terrorised by Modiji… It is like if someone speaks up, they will be asked ‘who are you to speak up’.”

Agnivesh said that while a formal FIR has been lodged against the perpetrators, no police officer has come to take his statement or talk to him. “It is amazing that the entire administration is hobnobbing with those who attacked me; they are on their side,” he said.

The 78-year old former Haryana cabinet minister has never been popular with the RSS and its affiliates, given his association with the Arya Samaj — a spiritual school of thought that rejects Hindu religious texts.

Agnivesh believes this is one reason that he is systematically targeted.

“The Arya Samaj has no place for casteism, gender inequality, superstition-mongering, dogmatism… Everything is based on reason, and these people (the RSS) are miles away from this,” he said.

Asked if he feels a threat to his life, Agnivesh said, “I don’t know what can happen, but I am keeping faith in God.”

He added that he was going to take legal recourse by moving the Supreme Court Thursday on the two attacks on him.

Last month, the social activist was attacked, allegedly by BJP Yuva Morcha workers, in Jharkhand when he had visited the state to attend an event in Pakur, about 365 km from capital Ranchi.