The statements condemning the arrest of the 83-year-old priest, Stan Swamy, from Ranchi by the All India Catholic Union and the North East Catholic Research Forum are being backed by people’s protests. The Catholic bodies demand that the already ailing priest be freed, and accuse the authorities of silencing dissent and protests against the alienation of the natural resources of tribal people. This last must be placed in the context of the continuing arrests for the caste-based violence at the Bhima Koregaon site on January 1, 2018, which was supposedly ‘aggravated’ by speeches in the Elgaar Parishad meet the previous evening. The activists, writers, academics and lawyers arrested so far for this — the elderly priest said he was not even at Bhima Koregaon — work with and for Dalits, poor and indigenous people. The Catholic priest is known for his ceaseless fight for the rights of and justice for tribal people. Is the logic of these arrests built on the fact that Bhima Koregaon is commemorated by Dalits? The Elgaar Parishad meeting was an Ambedkarite event, which the police later accused of having been funded by banned organizations, particularly the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

One charge against Stan Swamy is that he received Rs 8 lakh to further the extremist outfit’s agenda. This is included in the 10,000-page supplementary charge-sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency against eight of the accused, following earlier charge-sheets by the Pune police. Reams, obviously. The common thread between them is the link the accused supposedly have with banned Naxalite outfits shown by communications apparently on their electronic devices and literature on extremist outfits they allegedly possess — is reading an offence? — and, presumably, a plan to overturn the lawful government. There is nothing boring about the charges. The rights activist vocal against injustices in Kashmir, Gautam Navlakha, for instance, is charged with being a bridge between the CPI (Maoist) and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. People who were not at the site of violence have been charged under laws against terrorism, incitement of caste hatred and plans to overthrow — presumably unlawfully — an elected government. Is it being suggested that the rights of the oppressed cannot be championed? Or is it just dissent that is unacceptable? Would the arrests being made in the name of the Delhi riots fit in too?