Exactly a month after he was beaten up allegedly by BJP youth wing activists at Pakur in Jharkhand, social activist Swami Agnivesh was on Friday roughed up outside the BJP headquarters in New Delhi when he came there to pay his respects to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Soon after Agnivesh arrived at the venue on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, some people raised slogans, asking him to go back.
News channels showed footage of the former Janata Party MP, who was seen running and chased by people, believed to be Bharatiya Janata Party workers.
The Delhi Police then took Agnivesh in a van and moved him to safety.
“I was attacked while walking towards BJP headquarters to pay my respects to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Around 20-30 BJP workers came and surrounded me and pushed me. My pagdi fell down and they started calling me a traitor,” Agnivesh told reporters.
“They pushed me towards the Vishnu Digamber roundabout and kept abusing me. Some policemen were standing there but these persons, including some women, carrying slippers, kept abusing me,” he added.
The social activist claimed that he had informed BJP leader and Union minister Harsh Vardhan before visiting there and will be lodging a formal complaint with the police about the assault.
“The police have so far not reached out to me. I will be filing a police complaint. I was attacked earlier also and no arrests have been made in the case. There is an atmosphere of violence and intolerance,” he said.
Agnivesh was recently attacked in Jharkhand’s Pakur district in Jharkhand when he was on way to attend a public function in a village.
Suspected BJP youth wing and ABVP workers had allegedly attacked him accusing him of being hand in glove with Christian missionaries for “instigating” tribals to convert religion.
Swami Agnivesh is being accused of being an agent of Christian missionaries and Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence by some right wing bodies.
In May 2011, during a rally in Ahmedabad, Swami Agnivesh was slapped by another religious leader, who was arrested. At that time Swami Agnivesh had made some comments on formation of Shivlingam in Amarnath.
(With inputs from agencies)