Rights activists, intellectuals and citizens, along with the Catholic Church, came out in support of arrested social worker Stan Swamy on Friday and issued a statement condemning the “unilateral action” of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and appealed to chief minister Hemant Soren, who has so far maintained a deafening silence on the issue, to intervene.

Social worker and activist Swamy (82), known for his work for the uplift of tribals, was picked from his residence in Ranchi by NIA in a hush-hush operation for alleged links with Maoists allegedly involved in the violence at Bhima Koregaon in Pune December 2017.

The statement, endorsed by over 2,000 people from all walks of life, called Swamy’s arrest an unending witch-hunt against the voices of the poor and marginalised.

The statement was released to the local media by Jharkhand Jan Adhikar Mahasabha, a conglomeration of various rights groups, during the day. In the evening, members of the group and citizens held a protest march at Albert Ekka Chowk to demand that the Centre immediately release Stan and close cases against him.

Economist Jean Dreze was among the first to condemn the NIA’s high-handedness. “We strongly condemn the arrest of Stan Swamy by NIA in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case,” said the architect of the UPA’s flagship rural job scheme, MGNREGS. “He is a valued and public-spirited citizen and has been working for tribal rights since decades in Jharkhand. We are demanding, to both the state and central governments, to release him.”

The state’s political establishment has been surprisingly silent on Swamy’s arrest. Chief minister Hemant Soren, who never loses an opportunity to champion state rights, had not spoken a word about Swamy’s arrest by a central agency, apparently without the knowledge of the state police.

The Congress party, a partner in the JMM-led state government, had not issued a statement either.

Jharkhand police spokesperson Suman Gupta refused to answer questions on the manner in which Swamy was picked up and whether the state police had been kept in the dark. “You must pose whatever questions you have to NIA and not to us. Since the case is their baby, Jharkhand police can’t give any answers,” he said.

Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, the auxiliary bishop of Ranchi, issued a statement, appealing to citizens to stand by Swamy in his hour of need. He appealed to the authorities concerned to release the octogenarian immediately. “We are distressed and troubled by the manner in which such an elderly person has been treated by NIA. A clarification from NIA would be greatly appreciated,” he said.

The joint statement issued by the mahasabha noted that Swamy had cooperated with the investigating officers of the NIA when they questioned him at his residence in Bagaicha for over 15 hours on two occasions between 27-30 July and August 6).

“Stan has consistently denied any link with extremist leftist forces or Maoists. He had also clearly told the NIA that some so-called extracts, apparently taken from his computer and shown to him by the NIA, were fake and fabricated and that he disowned them. It is deeply worrying that the NIA arrested an 84-year-old with several health ailments during the COVID epidemic and made him travel to Mumbai,” the Mahasabha statement said.

It added, “We firmly believe that the Bhima-Koregaon case, being driven by the Modi government, is a baseless fabrication. The central government, in the guise of the Bhima Koregaon case, is trying to build a false narrative of a national Maoist conspiracy against the state that involves these activists. The main objective of the case is to target and harass activists who work for the rights of Adivasis, Dalits and the marginalised… The Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case exposes the extent to which the central government is willing to undermine constitutional values and suppress dissent.”

Activists also wondered why chief minister Hemant, who in January last year as an Opposition leader during the tenure of the BJP-led state government, had supported Stan, was silent now.

Siraj Datta, a member of the mahasabha, questioned how NIA could forcefully pick up an elderly person without a formal warrant, and that too during a pandemic. “He has always cooperated with the investigators. The way he is being treated is inhuman and vindictive. It is beyond our understanding why the state government is silent,” he said.

Vasavi Kiro of Indigenous Women India Network maintained that Swamy has been a vocal critic of the BJP government’s attempts to amend land laws, and that he had fought for the implementation of Forest Rights Act, PESA and related laws. “Swamy has been an honest and selfless person. We have the highest regard for his work,” she said.