CPI(ML)-New Democracy strongly condemns arrest of Stan Swamy in Elgaar Parishad case. He was arrested on 8th October evening.
83 years old Jesuit priest Stan Swamy became the latest victim to the expanding dragnet of imagined conspiracies being fawned by the RSS-BJP government at the Centre in its attempt to crush every form of dissent. This is yet another example of flagrant disregard for human rights and the rule of law by the present Hindutva government at the Centre. It outrages human sensibilities to note that in the said case most of those arrested are elderly persons with exemplary record of public service and formidable reputations as public intellectuals and human rights activists, while rabid Hindutva leaders like Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the actual perpetuators of the violence at Bhima-Koregaon, are being shielded.
Father Stan Swamy, who originally hails from Kerala, has spent forty years working among the predominantly tribal areas of Jharkhand, and is known for being vocal on issues impacting the land rights, lives and livelihoods of the tribal people of Jharkhand. Actually, it is this unfailing commitment to the tribal rights which has earned Father Swamy the wrath of the Hindutva forces in particular. As has already been articulated publicly, the thrust of the so called investigation that Father Swamy has been subjected to till now has had nothing to do with his alleged linkage to Bhima-Koregaon but to somehow manufacture his links with CPI(Maoist). Father Stan Swamy’s home in Ranchi had been raided twice earlier – on 28 August 2018 and 12 June 2019, besides him having been subjected to over fifteen hours of interrogation by NIA over two days before his arrest.
It appears that arrest of Stan Swamy is a preparation by the Govt. to launch a renewed offensive to further displace tribals taking over resource rich areas inhabited by them. His arrest along with attack on tribals and their leaders is a part of this offensive.
The entire investigation and arrests made in the matter of Elgar Parishad case are actually part of the ever deepening ‘conspiracies’ of the RSS-BJP at attacking the toiling masses leaving them bereft of any legal rights to resist the Hindutva onslaught which aims to secure the resources of the country for the most reactionary segments of the ruling classes. There is a pattern in the ‘conspiracies’ and ‘investigations’ leading to the arrests of numerous intellectuals, academics, political and democratic rights activists, student leaders, minorities and Dalits. The Bhima-Koregaon case, arrests relating to the ‘North-East’ Delhi violence and the anti-CAA movement, and now the conspiracy alleged by the Ajay Singh Bisht government in Uttar Pradesh behind the rape and murder of the Dalit woman in Hathras, clearly define the contours of RSS-BJP’s conspiracy against the people.
While this vile ‘conspiracy’ and calculated arrests being enacted in the name of ‘investigations’ exposes the deepening fear of the people that is engulfing the Hindutva rulers, these also threaten the lives, liberty and democratic of Indian masses, especially the Dalits, Minorities, Tribals and other toiling masses.
CPI(ML)-New Democracy appeals to all democratic and progressive organizations and individuals to condemn Father Stan Swamy’s arrest, to protest against this brutal offensive and to build a broad-based powerful movement against ruling fascist forces. This assault on the democratic rights must be resisted by all means.
CPI(ML)-New Democracy
October 9, 2020