By Cedric Prakash
Ahmedabad, July 5, 2024: When on July 5, 2021, the fascist regime of India, killed Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, they succeeded only in destroying the frail body of an 84-year-old Catholic Priest. Today, three years after that fateful day, the Spirit of Stan Swamy lives on.
Millions of people: the Adivasis and the Dalits, the excluded and the exploited, the marginalised and the exploited, the displaced and the denied, the poor and other vulnerable, the academics and the writers, human rights defenders, other civil society and political leaders remember him with fondly.
The fascist regime has not been able to destroy the Spirit of Stan Swamy – they will never be able to do so! His Spirit lives on forever: millions today celebrate it and try to emulate his Spirit! The Spirit of Stan Swamy will never be killed! His spirit is radiated through the five inter-related dimensions of Symbol, Servant, Shepherd, Singer and Saint!
Stan Swamy is a SYMBOL
He is a symbol of resistance! He is a symbol of hope! He is a symbol of a new dawn! He is a symbol that justice and truth, which will ultimately triumph, whatever the consequences or the price, one may temporarily have to pay! Stan Swamy is a sign-post, a non-negotiable direction for the country today, particularly for the sub-alterns, those who have nowhere to go, those who live on the peripheries of society. Stan is a symbol of the relentless struggles of ordinary people belonging to all sections of society. He is a symbol for the ostracised and the dehumanised, that all is not lost! That there is still hope and that change is inevitable.
Stan Swamy is a SERVANT
A servant in the complete sense of the word! Someone who loved to serve others and he served with love! Stan Swamy was a servant made in the image and likeness of his Master Jesus. At the Last Supper, Jesus, went down on his knees to wash the feet of his disciples. It was an unimaginable gesture at that time. The mandate of Jesus to his disciples was clear: “do this in memory of me!”; “love one another, as I have loved you!” Stan lived this mandate throughout his life in the service of others. He served others without counting the cost! He did so with humility and selflessness. He epitomised what is referred to, as ‘servant-leadership,’ today! Like Jesus, he knelt down and washed the feet of his people, he embraced them, he held their hands and walked the miles with them in their struggle for justice, liberty, equality, fraternity and dignity!
Stan Swamy is a SHEPHERD
Accompanying his people to greener pastures; being in their midst: in their ‘joy and hope, grief and anguish’. Stan Swamy lived in the villages of Adivasis, ate their food, sang their songs, danced with them. He lived a simple, frugal life and his possessions were the meagre necessities. He was a compassionate pastor! A little after he assumed office, Pope Francis called on the world’s priests to stay close to the vulnerable, the marginalized and to be “shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.” “This is what I am asking you,” he said with emphasis, looking up from his prepared text, “be shepherds with the smell of sheep.” In ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ Pope Francis issued the same call to all Christians, “Evangelisers thus take on the ‘smell of the sheep’ and the sheep are willing to hear their voice” Stan Swamy did exactly this: and his people heard his voice!
Stan Swamy is a SINGER
Who always had a song to sing! Stan would surely smile hearing this! A true singer, everyone knows, is much more than a song: much more than the lyrics and the music. A singer is the soul, is the spirit that touches, that motivates, that inspires that leads. The singer is about attitude and conviction, about one’s body language: the song is from the heart! A singer cannot be caged, can never be imprisoned. The song is immortal: the words will never die. From Taloja Jail, during his incarceration, Stan Swamy wrote, “my needs are limited. The Adivasis and the Society of Jesus, have taught me to lead a simple life… Listening to the life narratives of the poor prisoners is my joy in Taloja Jail… I see God in their pains and smiles… Many of such poor under trials don’t know what charges have been put on them, have not seen their charge sheet and just remain for years without any legal or other assistance. The 16 co-accused have not been able to meet each other as we are lodged in different jails or different ‘circles’ with the same jail”; he concludes, “But we will still sing in chorus. A caged bird can still sing.”
Stan Swamy is a SAINT
There is no doubt about that! A saint is one who personifies holiness in the small simple, ordinary things of daily life. Pope Francis gave us an incisive Apostolic Exhortation in 2018, ‘Gaudete Et Exsultate’ (On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World). In it he emphasises that saints are not only those who have been beatified and canonised by the Catholic Church. Pope Francis states, “your identification with Christ and his will involves a commitment to build with him that kingdom of love, justice and universal peace. Christ himself wants to experience this with you, in all the efforts and sacrifices that it entails, but also in all the joy and enrichment it brings. You cannot grow in holiness without committing yourself, body and soul, to giving your best to this endeavour”. A description that fits Stan Swamy to the T! His companions in prison Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira will testify to this! Stan Swamy was a living saint – the Adivasis believed in him! A few days after his death, in July 2021, hundreds gathered together at ‘Bagaicha’ near Ranchi, the Centre he had begun for the rights of the Adivasis. During the memorial ceremony, his name was etched on the stone that had the names of tribal leaders who gave their lives for the sake of their people! Yes, Stan Swamy is a martyr and a Saint! Many pray to him today!
Alpa Shah, who teaches at the London School of Economics, recently released her path-breaking book, ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India’.
She writes, “In July 2018. Stan found himself accused of sedition by the Jharkhand government, alongside nineteen others. He wrote an email to his friends on 28 July 2018 in defence of his new status has a national traitor. ‘FIRs have been made out. We are accused of supporting the self- rule movement taking place among Adivasis in Jharkhand and neighbouring states of central India. Pathalgadi (erection of stone slabs) listing the powers of gram sabha (village councils) as per PESA Act 1996 and declaring their right to self-governance. The state government is not able to digest this declaration and calls it “a war against the state” and all those who support it as desh drohi (a national traitor)! In an attachment to the email, Stan listed all the issues he had raised about the government and ruling class policy in the light of the Indian Constitution and concluded, ‘if this makes me a ‘desh drohi’, then so be it”!
That was and is the quintessential Stan Swamy and his indomitable spirit: Symbol, Servant, Shepherd, Singer and Saint – all rolled in one! That Spirit will never die! We are ALL called to celebrate and emulate that Spirit today!
(Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash is a human rights, reconciliation and peace activist/writer. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com )
Late Fr Stan Swamy was booked under the notorious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Several activists like Fr Stan, journalists and students have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in different cases across the country. The Act It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
It must be noted that it was the then Congress regime which passed UAPA in 1967, purportedly in the wake of rising left extremism. The Act incorporates provisions of lapsed 1985 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, (TADA) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) enacted by the Parliament of India in 2002, due to several terrorist attacks that were being carried out in India and especially in response to the attack on the Parliament on 13 December 2001.
More amendments were incorporated in 2008 and 2012. The primary change though was to Section 35 of UAPA. Before the amendment, this provision only allowed organisations to be categorised as ‘terrorist’. With this amendment to Section 35, the Government can now categorise individuals as a terrorists, if it believes that the individual is involved in terrorism. Late Fr Stan and so many others have been put into this category. Ironically, both the UPA government headed by the Congress Party and the BJP told the nation that all these stringent amendments were necessary to rein in terrorism.
It was in 2008 that the strongest bail conditions were incorporated into the Act. If a court has reasons to believe that the charges against the accused were prima facie true, it didn’t grant bail. There was no dissent neither from the Congress nor the BJP to these stringent conditions. Both 2008 and 2012 amendments were supported by BJP. Most repressive part of the 2008 amendment was the extension of detention period from 90 to 180 days without charge or trial. The amendment also reversed the universally accepted principle of laying the burden of proof on the prosecution. In the revised UAPA, it is the accused that has to prove his/her innocence or disprove the prosecution that he/she is guilty. It also denied the accused the right to remain silent (reminiscent of the farcical trial of Jesus Christ by high priests!). The 2008 Amendment also provided that a person may be arrested by any officer of a designated authority on the basis of belief from personal knowledge, or information furnished by another person or from any documents, article or any other thing which may furnish evidence of the commission of an offence under UAPA. Readers may connect this provision to documents planted on Fr Stan’s laptop. A US-based forensic firm on Tuesday claimed that digital evidence used to arrest Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case was “planted” on his computer’s hard drive, similar to two other cases involving human rights defenders Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling. Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/evidence-was-planted-on-stan-swamys-computer-claims-us-forensic-firm-1171568.html
What the NDA government has done is tighten the screws on the UAPA provisions where getting bail is almost impossible even if one is aged and ailing as Fr Stan was. In its 2024 parliamentary election manifesto, the Congress Party (or for that matter, none of the known political parties), also silent on the draconian provisions of UAPA except “We promise to review all laws that interfere with the right to privacy and make suitable amendments to various laws to uphold the right to privacy.” https://manifesto.inc.in/assets/Congress-Manifesto-English-2024-Dyoxp_4E.pdf
Yes I have been to Fr Stan’s memorial in Baigacha and also saw the stone plaque of Adivasi martyrs. The priests there are doing a wonderful work on rendering all possible assistance to migrant labourers, including linking them to various government portals.
We are greatly touched by Rev.Fr.Stan Swamy sacrificial deeds. He is well remembered and felt by all humanity. May his wonderful spirits live among us forever Amen.!.