12-07-2021
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST),Central Committee
Press Release
July 10, 2021
The Dalit, tribal and oppressed peopleʹs communities of the country lost their well-wisher and a genuine democrat. Jesuit Priest Father Stan Slas Lurd Swamy was killed due to the bureaucratic attitude of the Brahmanic Hindutwa Forces of the country. He was 84. He was being treated in the Holy Family hospital in Bandra of Mumbai since May 28th this year and passed away at 1.30 pm on 5th July out of heart attack. The Central Committee of our Party conveys humble revolutionary homage to Father Stan Swamy.
His demise is an unfillable loss to the members of his family, relatives, his colleagues of the ʹBagaichaʹ that he runs. He was very fond of tribal people. Our party conveys deep condolences to each and every person concerned to him. It also hopes that the members of the Bagaicha shall rededicate themselves to fulfill his ideals.
Stan Slas Lurd Swamy was born on 26th April, 1937 in Tiruchirapalli of Tamilnadu. He did his Post-Graduation in Sociology in the University of Manila. He became close to the Christian religious leaders while he was studying in Brussels through which he developed the urge to serve the poor. He worked as the Director of Indian Social Institute in Bangalore from 1975 to 1986. In 1991 he went to Jharkhand where he established the Bagaicha (plantation and social research training centre) and has been working for the tribal people for the past three decades.
The unmarried father was working in the light of the ideals of tribal peopleʹs heroes Birsa Munda, Tilak Majhi, Siddho-Kanho who stood for the rights of the tribal people on the forest. He built their memorial columns. He joined the Jamshedpur Province of the Jesusʹ as a priest. He opposed the seizure of lands of the tribal people by the central and the state governments for construction of mega dams, mining and townships in the name of development and fought for their cause. Therefore the tribal people greatly love him, respect and follow him. The oppressed classes and special social communities of the country lost a selfless activist.
We are aware that the police are foisting false cases on thousands of people of oppressed Dalit, tribal communities. PPSC is an organisation working for bails and speedy trial in such cases. Father has been working as the Convener of this organisation for the past few years. He met around 3,000 tribal people in various prisons across Jharkhand and wrote a book in which he mentioned that 97 percent of them told him that they have been imprisoned with false allegations.
Central Vigilance Departments such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) could not tolerate the Father since he enlightened the people of Dalit and tribal communities regarding their rights. So they foisted the Bheema Koregaon false case that he was part of the conspiracy to murder the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and jailed him. Apart from our party, several academicians, well-wishers of tribal people, patriots, democrats, rightsʹ activists and opposition political leaders have been condemning this attitude of the government.
The police made a rude attack on the Bagaicha of the Christian Father Swamy and arrested the 84 old on 8th October, 2020 without any warrant, as the 16th person in the series of arrests that the Mumbai police are taking up all over the country since mid-2018, alleging the destruction created by the Hindutwa forces in Bheema Koregaon on the 1st of January 2018 on the progressive, democratic, revolutionary forces and political activists of the country.
The police conducted searches on his residence in Bagaicha in Ranchi two times, on 28th August 2018 and on 12th June 2019. The central vigilance organisations investigated him for 15 hours from July 27th to 30th in 2019. On the occasion the Father severely condemned the allegations of the investigating officers that they acquired information from his computer that prove that he has relations with the Maoists and that the whole information was placed by the police.
Father Stan issued a statement on 6th August 2018 regarding the attempts and harassment of the NIA to arrest him as a suspect in the Bheema Koregaon case. His statement exposed the deceptive nature of the central vigilance organisations. He said that ground was prepared for his arrest with the evil motive to prove that he has relations with Left Extremist Maoists and that the Bagaicha in Namkum in Ranchi belongs to the Maoists.
He clarified that both these are baseless allegations and outright condemned them. He also said that since senior citizens above 65 years should not move around during lockdown as per the rule of Jharkhand government, he must be investigated through video conference. He added that if the central vigilance agencies ask him to come to Mumbai he shall reject on the same grounds. It is utmost inhuman to arrest the 84 year old Swamy without considering his condition.
The courts absolutely took the side of the police until 23rd October 2020 and mercilessly rejected bail. As a part of it the Father expressed his protest in the video conference that the Mumbai court took up to enquire his bail application on 21st May 2021. He said, ʹI would wish death than to go to the JJ hospital under the management of the governmentʹ. He spoke about the negligent attitude of the government hospitals. He told the judges that until 8 months back he could manage all his personal works by himself but the Taloja jail gradually brought him to the present bad condition. He told the doctors that the tablets in the JJ hospital shall not treat his ill health.
ʹI shall not go to hospital. I shall breathe my last amidst the tribal people. Grant me bailʹ said Stan Swamy. He is a genuine well-wisher of the tribal people.
The prison doctor only said that the Father had ordinary fever and weakness while he was actually struggling for life. This shows the negligent attitude of the government. The NIA council also had the same attitude and said that Swamy was mostly facing problems related to old age, that they arranged a helper and that they are providing him nutritious food. Finally his condition deteriorated so much that he was unable to take food with his trembling fingers due to Parkinsonʹs disease.
The government was not prepared to allot a straw. Many intellectuals, political leaders and Christian missionary organisations of the country and the world made many requests but the Indian government paid a deaf ear. The Father was also operated two times for Hernia. He was suffering from pneumonia and several problems out of old age. On 30th May he was tested positive for Corona. He then said, ʹMy friends and well-wishers might feel bad that I am in jail. But I saw very poor people who do not even know why they are in the prison for a long time. No one is bothered about them. Our party hopes that his broad friends take the pledge to take forth his ideals.
Our party clearly states that his death is a planned murder, as several academicians, patriots, democrats, rightsʹ activists, political leaders of the opposition parties, the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Keralam and Tamilnadu and the family members of the accused in the Bheema Koregaon case have been saying for the past 3 years. This is undoubtedly the joint murder committed by the NIA, NHRC, BJP, centre and the judiciary.
Christian religious organisations in the country and the world expressed their grief condemning the attitude of the Indian government. There was severe shock at his death even in the international level. He said that if he dies in the hospital or under house arrest, the governments would announce that they did all the needed and were helpless. As he guessed, the Indian Foreign Minister immediately responded and issued a report that his arrest was legal.
Struggle with the demand for the withdrawal of the Bheema Koregaon case and the immediate release of all the social political activists arrested and imprisoned in the case shall be the real homage to Father Stan Swamy. Our party appeals to writers, artists, singers, advocates, journalists, democrats and patriots to go forth in the direction of defeating the Brahmanic Hindutwa forces that stand as the basis of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system and are preserving it, that which stands as the main enemy to the people of the world and that which the imperialists brought forth to continue their exploitation for minimum civil, democratic rights in the country.
Abhay
Spokesperson
Central Committee
CPI (Maoist)
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