Remembering GD Agarwal, the Man Who Died Fighting for Clean Ganga

GD Agarwal was on a fast-unto-death demanding Ganga conservation

GD Agarwal, IIT professor-turned-environmentalist, died on 11 October.

(Photo: PTI)

After fasting for 111 days, Ganga activist GD Agarwal died on Thursday, 11 October, after a cardiac arrest at AIIMS Rishikesh in Haridwar. The environmentalist was 87 years old and was on a fast-unto-death for Ganga conservation.

Who Was GD Agarwal?

Also known as Sant Swami Gyan Swaroop and Sant Swami Sanand, Agarwal was born in July 1932 in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh.

Before becoming an environmentalist, he was an IIT professor and engineer. He also served as a member-secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board.

In 2012, Agarwal had sat on a similar fast that lasted almost two-and-a-half months.

What Was He Fighting For?

Earlier in June this year, he went on a fast demanding Ganga Protection Management Act, and the halting of hydropower projects along the tributaries of Ganga, Alakanda and Mandakini.

Agarwal had been consuming only honey and milk for 109 days. On his last two days, he had given up those as well.

Agarwal believed that the enactment of the Ganga Protection Management Act would’ve resolved most of the problems of the river for a long time.

The Last Fight

Agarwal had addressed the press a day before he suffered the cardiac arrest, where he refused hospitalisation and said forcefully admitting him would be a violation of his freedom.

“They cannot force me into hospitalisation, it is a violation of my right to freedom as a citizen. The administration cannot violate my rights in this manner. I have already informed the hospital officials that if they attempt to force me with IV drops, I will rip them off and break the bottle the first chance I get.

GD Agarwal, Ganga Activist

After Agrawal’s death, Swami Dayanand, his close aide and assistant, alleged that he was murdered in ‘a well-planned conspiracy’ by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Dayanand held Union Minister Nitin Gadkari responsible his death.