Swamy and His Maoist Friends

The case of Stan Swamy is a case study for all the propagandists around the globe on how to project a terrorist as a priest. Though many might not agree with the brutality of my words, the truth is harsher in reality. There has been a great hue and cry around the death of Stan Swamy. The alleged inhuman treatment meted out to him has found many sympathetic takers in academia and the journalistic circles. However, none of the Stan Swamy sympathisers wants to discuss the charges laid against him in the NIA chargesheet. There is a genuine attempt to derail the debate around the severity of punishment for Maoist sympathisers in India. This is especially in view of the number of UAPA cases still pending in the court against the Maoist sympathisers living across India. There is an attempt to pressurise the Judiciary to treat those cases more with emotion than Law. But, before we move onto the narrative debate, let’s understand the case and conviction of Stan Swamy.

Stan Swamy is today posthumously hailed as a saviour and messiah of vanvasis and Dalits. The same man was arrested for an alleged plot to spread unrest in the country and accused of using Dalit sentiments to further his agenda in the Elgar Parishad case. Stan Swamy was convicted in the Elgar-Parishad case on October 8, 2020. If we go into the history of the Elgar Parishad case, we visualise the blatant abuse of Dalits for political gains. Elgar Parishad organised an event to mark the 200th anniversary of the victory of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon. Fiery speeches were given in the event, ultimately leading to the Bhima Koregaon caste violence in January 2018. According to the police chargesheet, the event was part of the larger plot to create unrest in society. The main agenda was to stir the Dalits through fiery speeches, ultimately leading to chaos in society. The charge sheet further stated that the Elgar Parishad event was organised through the financial assistance of the banned outfit CPI(Maoists).

Moreover, it stated that it is the policy of the CPI (Maoists) to mobilise the Dalit community’s sentiments and mislead them to take a violent path against the system. In the chargesheet the NIA made a clear case of Stan Swamy being at the epicentre of the Bhima Koregaon case, and he planned to take on the Government through a planned militia. The NIA laid out that under the garb of Dalit activism, Stan Swamy supported the Maoists in India. The NIA chargesheet also stated that it was found in search and seizure that Stan Swamy was in touch with many Maoists and even received Rs 8 Lakh to further the Maoist agenda. The NIA further included in the chargesheet that Stan Swamy wanted to use Muslim Dalit forces to further his agenda. These are serious allegations put out in the NIA chargesheet. Today’s same man is hailed as the champion of Dalit and tribal rights by narrative setters of Delhi. This is a sham of colossal proportion. This was one classic case of misusing the sentiment of the Dalits to further the political agenda.

The case of Stan Swamy brings us to a larger debate of how Maoist sympathisers use or plan to use Dalits for furthering their agenda in India. It is also important to understand how this whole nexus works on narratives and institutional pressure. There cannot be a greater political abuse of a section of society as is the case of Dalit exploitation for political gains by Naxals in India. It is a study unto itself. What is most amazing is the sheer shamelessness of the Naxal cabal, which, even after decades of exploitation, pitches itself as a saviour of Dalits in India. If ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ had an apt example, this was it. Naxals have time and again used Dalits as political pawns who can be sacrificed for political gains. Narratives are spread frequently to gain Dalit sympathy for one issue or the other. Then the innocent Dalits are left high and dry to be misused for another political agenda. Even when we move beyond the Elgar Parishad case to analyse the killing of security personnel by the Naxals, we will realise the sheer apathy of Naxals to anyone’s cause but themselves. In 2021, 22 CRPF Jawans were killed, and 31 were injured in the Naxal attack in Sukma; in 2017, 25 CRPF were killed in another brutal Naxal attack in Sukma; in 2010, the Naxals killed 76 CRPF jawans in Dantewada. These are some of the most prominent instances of brutal killings of security personnel by the Naxals in the last decade. If we go onto the caste, Dalit security personnel were killed in 2010, 2017 and even the 2021 attacks. Though I have the highest regard for every martyr, it is important to lay down some facts to clearly highlight the Naxal double standard when talking about Dalit lives. The sole motive of the Naxal cabal is to poison the minds of innocent Dalits to create a divide in society to fulfill their separatist agenda.

After the death of Stan Swami, many Naxal supporters in the media have spoken extensively on the death of Stan Swami, using several English jargons to accentuate his plight in prison and his subsequent demise. Some even exaggerated to call it a ‘Judicial Killing’. The same cabal picks and chooses specific instances to malign the Judiciary without being objective in its approach. Their inherent bias is blatantly visible. This selective criticism is inflicted on the judges only to pressurise them for favourable judgements. Owing to this pressure, Justice Gogoi once famously said, “Lobby is holding Judiciary to ransom”. Much of the current narrative is to pressurise the Judiciary and influence its verdict in the future pending cases of Bhima Koregaon accused. However, while referring to Stan Swami’s death as judicial killing, Naxal supporters malign the very Constitution from which the Judiciary derives power. The same Constitution framed by Dr BR Ambedkar, a Dalit whose life story is a motivation for all. While maligning the Judiciary, the Naxals malign both the Constitution and the Dalit man Dr B R Ambedkar, who is referred to as the father of the Constitution. Even after showing no regard to the Constitution or even Dr B R Ambedkar, we will see many Naxals hailing Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution just to pretend to be upholders to constitutional rights and values. This is to further their agenda of dividing the society under the pretext of safeguarding Dalit rights. This is a perfect wolf in sheep’s clothing example.

Being ‘anti-establishment’ is currently the most overused as well as the most abused word in India. For making false safeguard against inherent bias and ideology-driven propaganda, many Naxal supporters refer to themselves as ‘anti-establishment’. The same stance is also being taken while criticising the Judiciary for the death of Stan Swamy. Stan Swamy sympathisers often refer to his old age and failing health as a ground for bail; however, if we read the judgement of the NIA court, we can observe that the charges against him were prima facie held to be true. The court observed that the evidence prima facie suggested that Stan Swamy was not only the member of the banned CPI(Maoist) outfit but he along with others hatched a serious conspiracy to create unrest in the entire country and to overpower the Government, politically and by using muscle power. These are serious charges on which the court denied bail to Stan Swamy, stating that the community’s collective interest would outweigh the right of personal liberty of the applicant. The court found that prima facie Stan Swamy was involved in activities, the objective of which was to overthrow democracy. But such charges and community interest is of no consequential value to Naxal stooges. What matters is the ideology, the propaganda for it and the activities that supplement it. Probably for Naxal stooges, the term ‘anti-establishment’ means anything against the established ideals of democracy. After all, communism and democracy cannot co-exist.

Stan Swamy’s death is a propaganda tool for many. After the death of Stan Swamy, the widespread narrative is another attempt by the Naxal supporters to malign an established institution of the country. The hailers of Stan Swamy as the champion of Dalit and tribal activist refuse to accept that he was prima facie a member of CPI(Maoist) responsible for the deaths of 100s of Jawans Dalits and tribals. The hailers of Stan Swamy also forget that he conspired against the very ideals of democracy that they pretend to hold dear. The whole propaganda is to portray the established institution being against tribal and Dalit rights activists. The propaganda is to establish the current regime as authoritarian and anti-Dalit, even though the court clearly lays down the case against Stan Swamy. The whole narrative is to divide the society again on caste lines. However, it’s time that supporters realise that in this age of the internet, the veil of sheep is easily penetrable to see the wolf beneath.