On the night of 8th October, 83-year-old Jesuit priest Fr Stanislaus Lourduswamy popularly known as Fr Stan Swamy was arrested by four officials of National Investigation Agency from Delhi with fabricated charges at Bagaicha, a Jesuit-run Social Centre in Ranchi which was founded by him. Presently he is languishing in the jail. He has been accused of being connected to Maoist forces and being involved in a conspiracy to instigate caste violence in Bhima Koregaon village near Pune in 2018. In fact he has never been to that village. Fr Stan is a true displace of Jesus, a committed member of the ‘Society of Jesus’ and a dauntless missionary who has been working for the welfare of the Adivasis of Jharkhand who are his first love. Inspired by his Society’s hallmark ‘A Faith that does Justice’ he ventured on a mission of defending the human rights of the poor and oppressed Adivasis in Jharkhand. Fr Stan’s relentless fight against displacement and violations of Adivasi rights by the government and corporate houses has made it difficult for some companies to advance the kind of model they favour in development that pauperises the many while favours the very few. There have been continuous efforts by the powerful to silence him. He was influenced by the encyclical letter of Pope Francis ‘Laudato Si’ which deals on ‘Care of our Common Home’ and states that the irresponsible development enriches only the rich and powerful people but the poor people are not benefited by it.
Fr Stan adopted a scientific analysis of social relationships, structures and systems following that of Karl Marx in which he distinguished the ruling class from the working class. In Jharkhand he kept his focus on issues affecting Adivasi societies, especially defending their land and community rights over natural resources in their ethno territories. His constant fight was to defend Jal (water), Jungle (forest) and Jameen (land) of the Adivasis against the onslaughts of the corporate houses and powerful syndicates. He realized that the indigenous people if dissociated from their land will be deprived of their livelihood, if displaced from the jungle will lose their identity and if deprived of the natural water from rivers, streams and wells, their health will be deteriorated. Therefore with unflinching courage he protected the sources of the livelihood of indigenous people-jal, jungle and jameen.
Fr Stan’s great inspiration is the Brazilian Archbishop Helder Camara who said, “When I feed the poor they call me a saint, when I ask why they are poor, they call me a Marxist.” In a national convention organised by Forum for Justice and Peace in Ranchi in February 2018 he began his speech quoting Bishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” He appealed to the participants to evolve a spirituality based on Jesus of Nazareth and not on Jesus of the Christians. He said, “The historical Jesus of Nazareth was a revolutionary whereas the Jesus of the Christians has been deified and imprisoned inside our churches and tabernacles.” We honour this great champion fighting for the cause of the poor and oppressed Adivasis.
