‘Always the first to protest violation of human rights’

As a 28-year-old Jesuit priest, Fr Stan Swamy first arrived in Jharkhand, then a part of undivided Bihar, to “live and understand” the life of the Ho tribe in Chaibasa. What he saw and experienced then led him to become the voice of the poor and marginalised until his death in judicial custody at the age of 84 on Monday.

Colleagues recalled how Fr Swamy, while studying Ho life, felt the need to further sharpen his understanding of academic sociology and went to Belgium to pursue a one-year course in the subject. Though he was selected for a doctoral degree in sociology there, he preferred to return to Chaibasa. “I first met him in Bengaluru in the 1980s when he was director of the Indian Social Institute. He drove down in a jeep to receive me. A real humble gesture,” social activist Balaram said. “Later, In the 1990s, he came to Jamshedpur and stayed at Mango as our neighbour,” he added.

Fr Swamy would collect clippings of newspaper reports about the “oppression” of tribal communities. “It’s time for me to be active in anti-displacement movements,” Balaram said, quoting Fr Swamy.

Many activists engaged in campaigns for tribal rights were of the view that Fr Swamy, born in faraway Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, chose to live in Jharkhand when campaigns against land acquisition for the Netarhat field firing range and the Koylakaro project began in the early 90s. He found a place to stay at the Agriculture Training Centre (ATC) run by Jesuits at Namkom in Ranchi.

Once settled at the ATC, he founded Bagaicha, an organisation to fight for the cause of the poor and deprived, and started championing the adivasis’ fight for constitutional rights.

In the following years, Fr Swamy associated himself with almost every campaign for tribal and Dalit rights. He headed the Ranchi unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and extensively worked for the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota). He wrote a book based on the case studies of tribals jailed under the “Pota without evidence”.

While engaged in the Jangal Bachao Andolan, he highlighted the plight of thousands of adivasis jailed for violating forest laws. He also fought for the Forest Rights Act and supported the implementation of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act.

The Jesuit priest-turned-activist had a taste of strong government measures when he led the adivasis’ fight for administrative autonomy in scheduled areas, known as “Pathalgarhi movement.” He and other campaigners were slapped with criminal cases by the then Raghubar Das government for their Facebook posts supporting the campaign. “We cannot identify him with any one particular movement. He would be the first one to raise his voice whenever there was a violation of civil rights,” Anand Kumar Singh, former general secretary of PUCL (Jharkhand), said.