People push social activist Swami Agnivesh while he was on the way to pay tribute to former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in New Delhi on Friday. Agnivesh was reportedly assaulted later. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Social activist Swami Agnivesh was allegedly heckled and assaulted near the BJP headquarters on Friday, where he was one his way to pay homage to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

A video of the alleged attack that circulated on social media showed some people heckling the 79-year-old social activist.

“I was attacked while walking towards BJP headquarters to pay my respects to Atal Behari Vajpayee. Around 20-30 BJP workers came and surrounded me and pushed me. My pagdi fell down and they started calling me a traitor,” Agnivesh told reporters. He said he was pushed towards the Vishnu Digamber roundabout and they kept abusing him.

He claimed that there were some policemen standing nearby but the people, including some women, carrying slippers, kept abusing him.

The social activist claimed that he had informed BJP leader and Union minister Harsh Vardhan before visiting there and will be lodging a formal complaint with the police about the assault.

“The police have so far not reached out to me. I will be filing a police complaint. I was attacked earlier also and no arrests have been made in the case. There is an atmosphere of violence and intolerance,” he said.