Matri Sadan seer steps up stir to save Ganga
Into the 43rd day of his fast unto death protest, Brahamchari Atmabodhanand started taking only water and salt
HARIDWAR: Entering into the seventh week of fast agitation, Computer science graduate turned seer Brahamchari Atmabodhanand has now decided to take only water and salt.
Aggrieved over state government and district administration’s indifferent attitude towards the Matri Sadan seers, Brahamchari Atmabodhanand has decided to intensify his agitation which commenced on August 18 .
Into the 43rd day of his fast unto death sit-in protest, Matri Sadan seer Brahamchari Atmabodhanand on Thursday started taking only water and salt.
Swami Shivanand Saraswati, spiritual ideologue of Matri Sadan Ashram, lamented that despite seven weeks’ agitation by his disciple Brahamchari Atmabodhanand, neither any cabinet minister, district magistrate nor district police chief has visited the ashram premises. After a hiatus of four months, Brahamchari Atmabodhanand had resorted to agitation on six points related to the causes of Ganga.
The seer is also demanding a high-level probe into the deaths of two other Matri Sadan seers, Swami Atmabodhanand and Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand, who died while staging agitation at the ashram premise.
Ashramites made it clear that the agitation will continue till a written assurance is given and action is taken by the authorities concerned.
Notably, Brahmachari Atmabodhanand’s agitation is based on six points, including a ban on hydropower projects, rampant mining, special probe into the deaths of Swami Nigmanand, Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand and ill-treatment meted out to Sadhvi Padmavati last year, when during her threemonth-long indefinite agitation she was forcibly shifted by the local administration to hospital. Many saints and representatives of religious organisations have lent their support to the agitating Brahmachari.
Congress city president Anju Mishra has also extended its support to the agitation of Matri Sadan seers.
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THE SEER IS ALSO DEMANDING A HIGHLEVEL PROBE INTO THE DEATHS OF TWO OTHER MATRI SADAN SEERS, SWAMI ATMABODHANAND AND SWAMI GYAN SWARUP SANAND, WHO DIED WHILE STAGING AGITATION AT THE ASHRAM PREMISE
Pandey had arrived at the ashram last week and ushered in support to the causes of Matri Sadan seers.
A native of Kerala, Brahmachari Atmabodhanand met Matri Sadan ashram founder Swami Shivanand Saraswati during his spiritual sojourn to holy shrine of Badrinath in 2014.
Brahmachari Atmabodhanand had staged a record 194 days from October 14, 2018 till May 4, 2019, on similar demands on the prohibition on quarrying and hydropower projects. Prior to lockdown, he had staged an agitation for 41 days in February-March 2020 in support of Sadhvi Padmavati, who also staged 100 days of agitation last year.
In 2018, Gyan Swarup Sanand, a former Indian Institute of Technology professor, whose original name was Prof GD Agarwal, died in AIIMS Rishikesh on the 112th day of his hunger strike on October 11, 2018.
After his demise, Sant Gopal Das had announced to carry forward the agitation. However, within 10 hours of his announcement, a team of the district administration, along with doctors, reached Matri Sadan ashram and lifted the seer during the night on a stretcher and took him to AIIMS Rishikesh in an ambulance.
Earlier on June 13, 2011, after 114 days of indefinite fast unto death at Matri Sadan ashram on same demands, young Swami Nigmanand had died in suspicious circumstances.