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BJP targets Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for backing ‘Maoist’ Stan Swamy
Stan Swamy was born in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli town in 1937 and travelled the world as a Jesuit priest before settling down and building a centre outside Ranchi to work for tribal rights
Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party chief and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash on Tuesday alleged that 84-years old Jesuit priest Stan Swamy was a Maoist who died a natural death in a Mumbai hospital on Monday and that chief minister Hemant Soren was indulging in dirty politics by supporting him while ignoring the pain of tribal victims in the state.
“Soon after Hemant Soren government came to power, a group of tribals were massacred in Chaibasa. Till now thousands of women have been brutalised but the CM continued to remain mum. He kept quite on Rupa Tirkey case for months, but the CM started doing politics soon after the death of a Maoist,” said Prakash in a tweet in Hindi.
Hemant Soren has been vocal against Stan Swamy’s arrest on terror charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October 2020 in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence case. Swamy died in a Mumbai Hospital on Monday, where he was admitted in March on Bombay high court’s instruction after his health deteriorated at Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. Soren blamed the Centre for the death of the man, who is widely seen as a tribal rights activist.
“Shocked to learn about the demise of Father Stan Swamy. He dedicated his life working for tribal rights. I had strongly opposed his arrest & incarceration. The Union government should be answerable for absolute apathy and non provision of timely medical services, leading to his death,” chief minister Hemant Soren said on Monday.
Deepak Prakash claimed that Soren’s sympathy was misplaced as he may not have been “provided with the complete information”. “It’s the court that kept Stan Swamy in jail over allegations of anti-national activities and the jail is administered by the Maharashtra government. Why such a hue and cry over a natural death, just to clean the stain of Stan?” Prakash said in another tweet.
Stan Swamy was born in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli town in 1937 and travelled the world as a Jesuit priest before settling down and building a centre outside Ranchi to work for tribal rights. He helped tribal people fight illegal capture of their lands, filing claims and records and worked for the release of young tribal people from prison.
He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in an early morning raid at his non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bagaicha, on the outskirts of Ranchi, on October 9 last year and charged with being a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and involvement in a conspiracy to instigate caste violence in the Bhima Koregaon village near Pune in 2018. Swamy denied the charges.
Swamy’s death has evoked outrage in the Indian public sphere and political leaders cutting across party lines have condemned the Central government’s handling of his case.
