Ranchi: Pastor Stan Swamy, who is known for vote for the poor and marginalized, will always be remembered as a friend of the poor and dalit community.
He finally had to die in detention to “hostile the political power corridor”.
Born in 1937 in Tiruchirappalhi, Tamil Nadu, Swamy’s life is an example of non-stop activism to maintain human rights, especially the tribe and oppressed, and in turn becomes a victim of “the institutionalized Maiming” from such voices, people who knew he said.
At the age of 20, he became a Jesuit priest and did his life to the poor and marginalized.
Eight years later, he visited Chaibasa in the Division of Kolhan Bihar to live and understand Ho’s tribal life, which dominated the region.
For a short period, he went to Manila in the Philippines to get a master’s degree in sociology and return to Chaibasa again to learn the life and challenges of the tribal community.
In the course of his interaction with the community, Fr Stan realized the need to sharpen his understanding of the sociology of academics and go to Belgium to pursue a one-year course.
He was chosen for a doctorate in sociology there but FR Stan decided to return and apply his knowledge obtained with humanitarian services and return to India, once again chose Chaibasa as his work area.
From Chaibasa, Fr Stan went to Bangalore where he served as Director of the Social Institute of India (fill) for about 15 years but his love for Chhotanagpur tribes pulled him into Jharkhand (then Bihar) once again.
Balam’s social activist, who has witnessed a Fr Stan trip in the previous days, remembered him as a soft-speaking person who never thought of his personal needs.
“I met him in Bangalore, now Bengaluru, in the 1980s when he was the Director of Contents.
He drove in a jeep to accept me which was a really humble movement on his side,” Balram said.
“In the 1990s, he came to Jamshedpur and lived in Mango and we were neighbors,” Balram said, considering how he would bring paper cuttings about the persecution of tribal communities or stories related to their oppression for land acquisition.
That’s when I was active with the anti-displacement movement, “he said.
Another activist in Jharkhand believed that FR STAN decided to settle in Jharkhand after he noticed the tribal movement against the Netarhat field shooting range and the Koylakaro project in the early 90s.
FR STAN was given a place to live At the Agriculture Training Center (ATC) operated by the Jesuits in Namom in Ranchi in the late 1990s.
From there, he laid the base of the Bagacha and began voting to tribal people and helping them build movements to demand their constitutional rights .
“Baganacha has a formal form with the inauguration of the building in 2006,” said Tony’s father, director of ATC.
Then, Fr Stan can be seen almost every place every time there are tribal protests and Dalits to oppression by the state.
He leads the Ranchi unit from the People’s Union to Civil liberties and many work to revoke the prevention of controversial terrorism suppression (POCA) and also wrote a book Apply the study of cases of rows behind ribbons without evidence.
He also fought for the cause of underage detention and when working with ‘Jangal Bachao Andolan’, he had highlighted the fate of several thousand tribes sent to be imprisoned for violations of the forest law.
He also plays an important role in suppressing forest rights and lends his voice for the implementation of the Panchayat extension to the scheduled area (PESP).
Support for tribal people who seek administrative autonomy in the regions scheduled through the Pathalgarhi movement are filled with iron hands from the state government and cases submitted against it and several other activists at the time of “post” Raghubar watershed for Facebook.
Former Secretary General PUCL Jharkhand, Anand Kumar Singh, said FR STAN was obsessed with the idea of implementing constitutional provisions at grassroots where people were usually not aware of their rights.
“We cannot isolate him with a certain movement.
Fr Stan is the first to raise his voice every time there is a violation of civil rights,” he said.
Father Stan Swamy, the priest who lives and strives for the poor
