Saddening, say academics, as Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College cancels Stan Swamy memorial lecture after ABVP objection

No charges were proven against Stan Swamy, it’s saddening that his memorial lecture has been cancelled, says an ex-principal of St. Xavier’s College.

Academics have expressed outrage after Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College cancelled the annual Stan Swamy memorial lecture following objection from right-wing students’ organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which said that Father Stan Swamy was accused of committing ‘anti-national conspiracies’.

The memorial lecture, hosted by St. Xavier’s College’s department of inter-religious studies (DIRS), was to be delivered virtually on August 9 by Fr. Prem Xalxo, associate lecturer, faculty of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, on ‘Migration for livelihood: Hope amidst miseries.’

“The lecture was cancelled as the college wished to avoid disruptions during the lecture and also unnecessary controversy over the issue, which is not even central to the college’s educational offerings,” Fr. Keith D’Souza, S.J., Rector, St, Xavier’s College, said in a media statement.

Father Stan Swamy was a tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 on charges related to the Bhima Koregaon violence. He was in state custody when he passed away in a Mumbai hospital in 2021.

‘Important to keep Father Stan’s memory alive’

“The allegations levelled by ABVP are totally unfounded. Both the Pune Police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had, for more than five years, been unable to prove any charges in a court of law. Only allegations were levelled. What the ABVP is claiming now is totally wrong,” Jesuit priest Dr. Frazer Mascarenhas S.J, former principal of St. Xavier’s College, told The Hindu.

He said that it was important to keep the memory of Stan Swamy alive as it signified the importance of tribal rights and the constitutional empowerment of tribals. “That is what father Stan was fighting for, with respect to land. He had gone to the Supreme Court for helping the tribals understand their own land rights. His PIL, filed for the release of thousands of young Adivasis who were put behind the bars for speaking for their land, was heard in the Jharkhand High Court. It was due to this PIL that many tribals were released,” he said.

“After giving up academics, Father Stan dedicated a large part of his life to the empowerment of tribals. Even while speaking, we refer to Adivasis as the indigenous people who were the earliest settlers. These are the people who definitely need our support. That is what Father Stan stood for,” Mr. Mascarenhas said, expressing sadness at the cancellation of the memorial lecture.

Conspiracy to instil anti-national ideology: ABVP

The ABVP said it strongly condemned the decision to organise the memorial lecture. “Such a lecture is a conspiracy to instil anti-national ideology in the college campus. This lecture glorifies the person who was declared the main accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, and against whom charges have been filed under UAPA [Unlawful Activities Prevention Act] 1967,” a letter signed by Prashant Mali, secretary of ABVP Mumbai, on August 4, claimed.

“Organising a lecture in memory of a person who was a key accused in serious crimes, like UAPA, including contact with the banned CPI (Maoist), financing and recruiting armed Naxalite groups, and seizure of documents containing a conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional government through armed uprising, is glorifying the Naxalites,” it stated in the letter. The ABVP said the letter was handed over to the principal of St. Xavier’s College.

“We did not organise any protest. We only gave the letter saying that it was extremely sad that prestigious colleges like St. Xavier’s are trying to encourage Naxalite ideas by glorifying a person accused of committing anti-national conspiracies. The college did not get back to us. But we heard media reports that the event had been cancelled,” an ABVP representative told The Hindu.

The letter had demanded the cancellation of the lecture and and also appealed to the Chief Minister, Home Minister, and the Higher Education Minister of Maharashtra “to take immediate action against such activities and ensure that such activities are not used by educational institutions to propagate leftist, anti-national ideas”.