Fr. Stan Swamy: An Anti-National or A Martyr?

Stan Swamy: A great Fighter, Crusader and Martyr Since, the death of 84-year-old Jesuit priest Fr. Stan Swamy in the judicial custody on July 5th, 2021, which was actually the institutional murder orchestrated by the Indian State, a billion-dollar question arising in the minds of millions in India and abroad whether Fr. Stan Swamy was a martyr or traitor? Indeed, I would say that he is a martyr for millions of us, who believe in the human rights, human dignity and freedom of expression. But he was a traitor for the Indian State and the right-wing Hindutva forces, who are the violators of the human rights and dignity and freedom of expression in India. But is it so simple? Of course, it isn’t. Let us delve deep into this. In this foreword, I would like to find some answers to the prime question why the Indian State and the right wing Hindutva forces were afraid of 84-year-old activist?, Why he was implicated, imprisoned and systematically murdered? I knew Fr. Stan Swamy for more than a decade. We worked together for a couple of years against the state-sponsored gross human rights violations of Adivasis. We travelled together several times inside the dense forests in the Jharkhand portion of the so-called Red Corridor, while conducting fact-finding missions looking into the brutal killing of innocent Adivasis by the security forces. Fr. Stan was a fearless, tireless, sensitive and brave human rights activist. Indeed, he was a great fighter, crusader and scholar. He fought against the brutal killings, rapes, torture, custodial crimes and false implication against thousands of innocent Adivasis by the security forces after tagging them as Naxals. His medium of interventions were democratic, constitutional and non-violent. He was collecting the fact on the cases of gross human rights violations, intervening legally in the court and other authorities, and exposing those cases through his regular writings in the media. He trained thousands of Adivasi youth on the Adivasi issues, who became fighters for their communities. He conducted research on the issues of displacement, land bank and undertrials. He wrote articles on the major issues related to Adivasis. He was part of every anti-displacement movement took place in last three decades in Jharkhand, and participated in almost every meeting, march, protest, rally and Dharna. I would say that he was the one who bravely used the fundamental right to freedom of expression in the time of democratic deficit when there is no space for the dissent. When Stan Swamy came under attack from the State, the right wing Hindutva forces also accused him of proselytising Adivasis, which was of course baseless. I laugh at the ludicrousness of it as I have never seen him offering Mass either in Church or elsewhere. It was a big surprise for me too. In fact, he was on a mission of justice and reconciliation instead of converting Adivasis. He was a true rights, justice and peace lover, who wanted to see the enforcement of the Indian Constitution, enactment of the laws and policies made for Adivasis and adherence of the Supreme Court Judgement regarding the community mining. Unfortunately, in the present era, demanding for the enforcement of the Indian Constitution, asking for enactment of the marginalized centred laws and resisting for adherence of the SC judgements, fall under the purview of crimes. The Indian State perceives the constitutional, legal and traditional rights of Adivasis including the fundamental right to freedom of expression as one of the Terrorist activities that’s why Fr. Stan Swamy was booked under the UAPA (in Bhima Koregaon case) and sedition laws (in Pathalgari case) merely for practising his fundamental right to freedom of expression. The message is wide and clear that anyone, who would raise the uncomfortable questions to the State, would surely face the consequences.