Swami Agnivesh was manhandled today near the BJP head office in Delhi, where he had gone to pay his last respects to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This is the second attack in a month on the 79-year-old social activist, who was beaten in Jharkhand by a mob that allegedly included BJP workers.

"I had gone to pay my respects to Vajpayee ji. Because of the police pickets, I had to walk down the last stretch… suddenly a group of people came and attacked us. There were two-three of us and they were quite a few. They beat us badly, pushed us around, abused us and knocked off my turban," Mr Agnivesh told media.

"They kept shouting 'he's a traitor, he's a traitor, beat him'," he added.

In a mobile phone video of today's attack, the saffron-robed Swami Agnivesh is chased, heckled and pushed around by a group as he kept walking, trying to shield himself. His headgear was yanked by one man and a woman is seen holding her slipper, as if to beat him.

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