‘Fr Stan was such a wonderful person…’ yet he was denied bail -Soter

 Published as Lead article in oHeraldo on July 26, 2021

The worst fears about Fr Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest and courageous advocate of social justice principles, having to die in jail finally came true. It is unthinkable in any sane society that a frail man battling chronic health problems at the age of 84 could be arrested under a draconian law - which has turned the legal principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ on its head - and denied bail on flimsy allegations of being a threat to the nation. Fr Stan breathed his last while in custody even as some brave-hearted lawyers battled it out in courts to set him free. The fight for justice to Fr Stan was practically a one-sided affair as truth was pitted against a tyrannical State machinery.

In such a situation, the chance for bail in a criminal justice system which stays caged under the draconian UAPA law was remote. The fight for justice to Fr Stan lacked the fire in the belly which could make the nation stand up and get the authorities to take notice. It was a Maundy Thursday and Good Friday when those citizens, cutting across faiths and economic classes, who had got the best of education from the Jesuit and Church institutions over the years, some of whom may even be in positions of influencing those in power, preferred to remain silent. It was a lonely walk to Calvary.

The shock and anger over the arrest of Fr Stan was more on paper than on the ground, and so has been the response after his death. The farewell to the departed hero appears superficial or more of a ritualistic compulsion. The conversation around his death remains confined to an exclusive club of a privileged coterie which runs with the hare and hunts with the hound, and justifies this with arguments such as “we cannot get too critical, more so in the times that we live in.” Statements from the judiciary that “Fr Stan was such a wonderful person…” can be no consolation. The international reaction to Fr Stan’s death will change nothing. In fact, the reactions remind us of Pontius Pilate washing his hands after finding Jesus innocent but yet handing him over to the mob to be crucified. A few voices of sanity have attempted to drive the debate into looking inwards so that lessons are learnt from Fr Stan’s trials and tribulations for a better future. The fault-lines within the Church in India could not have been better encapsulated than in an article by Rock Ronald Rozario in UCA news which stated, “when most live within the secure boundaries of a prudent church, those who challenge the corrupt system become victims”.

Merely eulogising about Fr Stanislaus Lourdusamy at elite gatherings will hardly impact the political tyranny. The Union Home Minister’s insistence on “aap chronology samajhiye,” does not seem to open the eyes of the Christian community. Fr Stan’s martyrdom cannot be understood in a vacuum. 

It has links with the conspiracy leading to the assassination of Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, or those made to languish in jail without a trial for defending the rights enshrined in the Constitution of India. This cruelty to Fr Stan cannot be delinked from the incarceration of Dr Binayak Sen or, for that matter, the murder of Sister Valsa John in Jharkhand and Graeme Staines in Orissa. The martyrs of Kandhamal and those released by court after being jailed on similar charges of a Christian-Maoist conspiracy for the murder of a Hindu Swamy are also relevant. The injustice to Fr Stan cannot be a convenient logic, namely a denial to admit an undeclared agenda of radical Hindutva forces to tag Muslims with ISIS and Christians with Maoists. The fight of Goans to protect their natural resources from land sharks is no different from the struggle of Fr Stan for the rights of the Adivasis. The invoking of the National Security Act in South Goa could well be a precursor for a similar tagging of Goa’s minorities with banned terror organisations.

Shying away from attributing Fr Stan’s work to his Christian faith perfectly feeds into the toxic political narrative. To isolate this issue from preceding social injustices in order to steer safe from the communal or sectarian angle, is what emboldens the State’s tyranny. A lie about Jesuits being Maoists chronicled by Hindutva apologists under Christian names which go unchallenged are ultimately assumed to be the truth after forwarding it some thousand times in social media. Fr Stan’s incarceration cannot be detached from the considerable rise in violence from right-wing forces against the Christians of North India. Tagging him with the alleged Bhima Koregaon violence is just a camouflage. Perhaps, a far more meaningful tribute to Fr Stan will be an honest admission by the Church about its role in playing down uncomfortable truths, which has emboldened the right-wing forces, along with efforts to make amends. 

Fr Stan’s work bore witness to the social justice principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and also embodied in his Christian faith. It was not about Marxist or Maoist ideology. The Jesuits are known for their ‘intellectual apostolate’ and this is exactly what has threatened oppressive regimes down the centuries. Defending these social justice principles are said to have caused Fr Stan to be ignored by his own faith community. The modern Christian charity, infected with branding and marketing while increasingly tilting towards government and corporate funding, cannot be expected to wholeheartedly defend its own who take the social justice principles and ‘option for the poor’ seriously. This was the crown of thorns Fr Stan wore. He was crucified by an ungrateful nation whose welfare he undoubtedly desired.

(The author is a social activist who has been a member of the panchayat.)

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