By Stanislaus Alla
New Delhi, July 7, 2022: More than a hundred intellectuals and collaborators of Jesuit human rights activist Father Stan Swamy recalled his mission to empower the downtrodden at a function in New Delhi on July 5, his first death anniversary.
The Federation of Catholic Associations of Archdiocese of Delhi organized a memorial lecture at Yusuf Sadan on the cathedral campus.
Neera Chandhoke, a Fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, spoke on “Human Right Defenders and their importance in a vibrant Democracy” at a session chaired by Jesuit Father Denzil Fernandes, director of the New Delhi-based Indian Social Institute.
Chandhoke spoke on the evolution of basic freedoms and rights that are often taken for granted and insisted that civic society needs to be constantly vigilant and help people re-appropriate them.
In the backdrop of the death of Father Swamy as a political undertrial who was regularly denied bail, she reminded that political prisoners are to be treated differently from the other undertrials or convicted and be given a free and fair trial. Several of such people in the country are denied bail is deplorable, she bemoaned.
Chandhoke narrated the long struggle of people in many societies to get freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of conscience and eventually a diverse cluster of rights (political, social, economic, cultural) emerged.
Right to be treated with dignity and not to be discriminated as well as right not to be arrested or tortured were significant developments. Right to equality and other rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution are yet to be fully appropriated in the lives of millions, she pointed out.
Not many realize that rights are innate to people and inalienable and are not to be requested from others but to be realized by each and every one. Civil society has a responsibility to educate and ensure that its members attain these, the professor asserted.
Civil liberties often trumped and people fought for them but social and economic rights were bypassed in many contexts. Also, what began as sympathy eventually evolved into the virtue of solidarity that has been a critical and indispensable component in the Catholic social teachings and in the messages of Pope Francis.
Speaking on the framing of the Constitution, Chandhoke insisted that it was drafted by people who knew India well, its specificities and unique features. The Indian Constitution, she added, was not a book dictated by colonial powers. “Give us what the Preamble promises,”’ she repeated and concluded her speech by saying that ‘Freedom does not create violence, absence of freedom does.’
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, used to say, ‘Love is shown more in deeds than in words,’ and it was best manifested in the life of Stan Swamy. What was most impressive and admirable was that the gathering brought many who relentlessly and fearlessly work because they, like Stan Swamy, don’t want to be silent spectators, she added.