Rajiv Dixit

Rajiv Dixit
Born	30 November 1967 (1967-11-30) Nah in Aligarh district
Died	30 November 2010(2010-11-30) (aged 43)[1] Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India

Rajiv Dixit^[a](30 November 1967 – 30 November 2010)^[3] was an Indian activist who promoted Ayurveda and opposed modern medicine and opposed multi-national corporations. He was the national secretary of Bharat Swabhiman Andolan trust.^[4]

Life and Career

Dixit was born in the village of Nah in Uttar Pradesh and studied in Allahadbad towards an engineering degree.^[b][6] In 1984, the Bhopal disaster, in which a gas leak from a pesticide plant owned by a multinational corporation resulted in thousands of deaths, led Dixit to question the role of such corporations in the Indian economy. His thinking on the subject was subsequently shaped by Dharampal, a Gandhian historian and thinker. In 1992, Dixit founded the trust, Azadi Bachao Andolan (Save Independence Movement), with the stated mission to "counter the onslaught of foreign multinationals and the western culture on Indians, their values, and on the Indian economy in general". Dixit's message was spread though thousands of speeches delivered across the country and through recordings on CDs and tapes distributed by the organisation.^[7][8]

An aide to Ramdev, Dixit served as the national secretary of Ramdev's anti-corruption organisation Bharat Swabhiman Andolan.^[1]

During his career as an activist, Dixit demanded decentralisation of the Indian taxation system, stating that the existing system was the core reason for bureaucratic corruption. He claimed that 80 percent of tax revenue was used to pay the salaries of politicians and bureaucrats and compared the modern budget system of the Indian government to the earlier British budget system in India.^[9]

Death

Dixit died on 30 November 2010 in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. After a lecture at Bemetra in Durg, he was accompanied by Daya Sagar, a local Bharat Swabhiman Andolan officer, while driving to Bhilai. During the trip he felt uncomfortable and sweated.^[10] At Daya Sagar's residence, he fell down in the bathroom. Initially he insisted on not going to the doctor. After a call from Baba Ramdev, he was first taken to Sector 9 Hospital in Bhilai and then transferred to the BSR Apollo Hospital. According to Dr. Dilip Ratnani, he died of a massive heart attack at night between 1 and 2 AM. On 1 December, his body was sent by air to Aligarh without an autopsy. His body was displayed at Patanjali Yogapita and later cremated with mukhagni lit by his brother Pradip Dixit and Baba Ramdev.^[11] Later the Prime Minister's Office ordered an investigation into his death in 2019.^[12]

There is a belief among his followers that he was poisoned to death because of his movement against multinational companies in India and other countries. Some of his supporters claimed foul play by Baba Ramdev,^[13] but Ramdev dismissed the claims.^[14]

See also

References

Notes