No prophet is recognised by the powerful. Prophets are killed because they are a threat to the powerful. That was the message of the Gospel...
No prophet is recognised by the powerful. Prophets are killed because they are a threat to the powerful. That was the message of the Gospel read at masses in Catholic churches on Sunday, July 4. Stan Swamy was bearing witness to that message as he lay critically ill in hospital that day. The next day, July 5, he died, a martyr to the cause of justice for tribal communities..
I have worked with Swamy for 40 years and have witnessed his commitment to an India of equality, a land in which the tribals, Dalits and women could claim equality. That is the India that the Constitution demands but not the India that the powerful seekers of corporate profit want. So the state that is supposed to uphold the constitutional values but gives priority to the interests of this sector called him anti-national and arrested him. He is one of many persons who pay this price in different ways.
Sixteen human rights activists, journalists, intellectuals and social activists are accused of being organisers of violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in 2018 though they have never visited the place and most of them have never met each other. But a conspiracy theory had to...
