Spiritual leaders lambast govt for ignoring GD Agarwal's death

Spiritual leaders across the country have blamed the government for turning a deaf ear to the demands of environmentalist Professor GD Agarwal who died on Thursday.

"We are extremely pained by the death of the great saint. Before going on the hunger strike he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister but the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) did not pay heed. He didn't want his death to be misused for anyone's political gains. Neither the party in power nor the opposition did anything," Swami Jitendra Nand of Ganga Mahasabha told ANI.

Refuting the government's claim of approving 80 per cent demands of Agarwal, he said, "Swami Sanand (GD Agarwal) had four main demands including Ganga be named as the national river and enactment of the National River Act. Though the government passed the Act, they made many amendments in it. He wanted a 'Ganga Bhakt Parishad'. He asked the government to stop construction of dams on Ganga until further orders but instead of doing that they issued a gazette notification in which they added a line for under-construction and future projects."

Swami Namdev Tyagi, popularly known as Computer Baba, claimed that while saints are dying, the government is busy collecting votes. "They seek votes in the name of temple construction and here, our saints are dying. They are playing politics. Our saints' community is facing a lot of problems," he said.

However, Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad president Narendra Giri said no political party should be blamed for Agarwal's death. "There is no doubt that he fought for Ganga river throughout his life. But, we don't think anyone should be blamed for his death. We always supported him, and we will stage a protest if his demands are not met.