Agnivesh

Swami Agnivesh (born Vepa Shyam Rao; 21 September 1939 – 11 September 2020) was an Indian social activist and the founder of Arya Sabha, a political party based on the principles of Arya Samaj. He also served as a cabinet minister in the state of Haryana. He is best known for his work against bonded labour through the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, which he founded in 1981.

Swami Agnivesh in 2019

Quotes

• Interreligious dialogue has not yielded any meaningful results. It is time we tried something else.
  • At the ‘Religion in Asia after 9/11’ conference in Jamia Millia 2009, Hindu liberation theologian Swami Agnivesh at a session called ‘Is interreligious dialogue the solution?’ as quoted in [1]

• The attempt on the part of US to police freedom in other countries . . . amounts to violation of the sovereignty of other nations. While it is understandable that the US would want to undertake exercise of this kind, citizens of other nations cannot aid and abet this process without compromising their national pride and patriotism.
  • quoted from Malhotra, R., Nīlakantan, A. (2011). Breaking India: Western interventions in Dravidian and Dalit faultlines