It is sad to hear about the death of ex IIT professor GD Agrawal aka swami Sanand (name he received after renunciation and embracing the saffron robe). He had been fasting for over a month to save river Ganga and he breathed his last earlier today.

My heart-felt condolence to the grieving family. Strength to the family to tide over this extreme grief.

That said, some years ago (in 2012), I wrote an article which was critical of Prof. Agrawal.

At that time, Congress was in power in Uttarakhand and at Center. If I recall correctly, he was fighting against illegal mining in Uttarakhand rivers and the construction of dams on river Ganga.

The reason for my disappointment with Prof. GD Agrawal was not the causes he was fighting for.

My disappointment was with the way he tried to mobilize people for the cause.

He had studied at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, followed by University of California, Berkeley. His employers include Government of India, Central Pollution Control Board and IIT Roorkee. In simple, he was not only one of the finest brains the country had, he was also one of the premier scientists of his chosen field.

No one expects renunciation from a person of such great mental faculty and scientific temper!

In addition, no one expects a scientist to use religious reasoning to push his life long scientific research!

My disappointment with Prof. Agrawal was that instead of using religion, he should have tried to educate young men and women, school children in a scientific way. That way he would have enlightened at least some people. 

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