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Former IPS officer’s insensitive comment on Swami Agnivesh’s death: New low for the Right-wing

Mere hours after the demise of Swami Agnivesh, right-wing hate mongers began sharing an ANI tweet maligning the memory of the social activist.

Image Courtesy:freepressjournal.in

The wicked never rest, and the caustic hate speech of the Hindutva factions continued unabated on September 12, a day after the death of spiritual leader and social reformer Swami Agnivesh. Social media became a cesspool of posts that maligned the name of late Swami Agnivesh, with people using insensitive, even crass language, some even celebrating his death.  

Following an ANI tweet reporting the demise of politician and social activist Swami Agnivesh, many Right-wing hate mongers retweeted the message with hateful comments alleging “damage to Hinduism.”

What is even more deplorable is that these comments came from former IPS officer M. Nageswara Rao as well.

 

In his bio, Rao describes himself as one who lives for “Civilisational Nation and EQUAL RIGHTS FOR HINDUS” making it abundantly clear where his loyalties lie. The former CBI Director has previously tweeted messages describing religious conversion as acts of aggression.

Many senior journalists and activists have even reported Rao’s objectionable tweet. The fact that it comes from someone so high in Indian law enforcement is testimony to the deep biases that have seeped into the Indian establishment.   

As a testament to Swamiji’s legacy, many came forward to criticise Rao for his insensitive comments. However, his tweet emboldened many others to denounce Swami Agnivesh’s good name, resulting in yet another hate-spurned Twitter war.

 

 

Swami Agnivesh gained the affection of many labourers, rights activists through his work against bonded labour. Even while battling liver ailments at Delhi’s Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) he was concerned about the 48,000 houses of Delhi’s slum dwellers that were to be demolished following Supreme Court orders. 

His contributions were particularly important for the child rights movement in India. He founded the Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labour Liberation Front) which freed as many as 1,78,000 bonded labourers including 26,000 children as per its website.

His death came as a severe blow to many including activist, journalist and close friend Teesta Setalvad.

 

However, his work also garnered many enemies from the far-right wing who wished to uphold age-old oppressive activities.

 

 

A brief glance at both LambodarPrasadDash’s and Pipsip45’s twitter accounts is enough to show their anti-Islamic and pro-Hindutva sentiments. Similarly, other voices of the Right also came to the surface.

 

 

Those who continue to denounce Swamiji and his work indicate that his battle against social evils is still very much a reality.

Related:

Champion of human rights, secularism, Swami Agnivesh, passes away at 81
Protests against attack on Swami Agnivesh emerge in many parts of the country
BJP-RSS goons storm Swami Agnivesh’s event on Gandhi Jayanti, say he’s not Hindu
Leaders Extend Support to Swami Agnivesh Post Attack, Demand Judicial Inquiry

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