The title of this write up is based on an article written by Ruben Banerjee, the editor of  Outlook magazine, on 12 July 2021, and the title of his article is “Defending Stan Swamy’s death: Abuses and Absurd Arguments”. After the death of Fr. Stan Swamy Ruben Banerjee had written an editorial condemning and condoling his death in state custody. He was flooded with feedback for a week. Some endorsed the view that the death of the ailing 84 year old Tribal activist was a great injustice and described his death as “institutional murder”.

But a sizable section disagreed and they were highly critical of what Banerjee wrote. They called Fr. Stan Swamy a Maoist conspirator and an “Urban Naxal”. 

According to the defenders of the death of Fr. Stan Swamy, he endorsed the terrorist attacks on our security forces and, therefore, had blood on his hand. One among the many who wrote to Ruben Banerjee an angry response asked why Swamy didn't condemn the killings of CRPF jawans by Maoists in Chhattisgarh. They were unanimous in Swamy’s denunciation and saw the soft-spoken tribal activist as a Maoist. In their eyes, he was a legitimate target and his death in custody was totally legal. 

The army of attackers of Fr. Stan is not ready to listen to any reasoning like Fr. Stan was never questioned during the nine months of his judicial custody, and at the same time NIA strongly objected to his medical bail. Stan was only an accused person and the trial had not yet started. The charges brought against him now look suspect with suggestions of evidence tampering. Still they have already concluded that he was a criminal and his death in judicial custody is fully justified. One person even regretted that Fr. Stan died in a hospital instead of dying in the prison. Ruben Banerjee concluded his write up with the statement, “It is humanity that is in peril in this country”.

What could be the reasons for the emaciation of humanity and enormous rise in inhumanity in many parts of India? A combination of different forces like a hate-promoting political ideology, politicization of religion, caste consolidations and the state becoming authoritarian and dictatorial etc, could have impacted the India society.  

The socio-political situation in India is vitiated in such a way that a large majority of people see and assess issues from the angle of “majority” or “minority” or “we” and the “other”. The ability to see things objectively and critical thinking have disappeared from a large number of people and the so-called educated class is also included in this category. People have justification for any atrocities, including rape and murder, committed on the “other”. Many have accepted that the “other” is an internal enemy of the nation; hence any cruelty can be done to him/her under the pretext of nationalism or annihilating terrorism. Besides the targeted minorities, all those who oppose the majoritarian ideology also come under the banner of the “other”. 

There has been concerted effort by right wing groups in India for the last three decades to spread an ideology that is exclusive, divisive and hateful. In order to unite the majority, which is divided on the basis of caste, the minorities were presented as a threat to the majority and an internal enemy of the nation. Social media platforms were flooded with fake news and hate messages. Blatant lies were manufactured and marketed by making use of diverse communication media. The venom of hatred and revenge was injected into the veins of Indian society. As a result, a huge number of Indians, including the middle class, are brainwashed and they do not find anything wrong in the atrocities committed on the “anti-nationals” by the state and the non-state actors.  

The state itself has become inhuman on the pretext of nationalism and destroying terrorist groups. The increasing use of draconian laws like National Security Act (NSA) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the sedition law against the critics of the government has resulted in the arrest and incarceration of hundreds of Indian citizens in jails for years without bail and trial. It smacks inhumanity on the part of the state. At a recent webinar organized by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) and Human Rights Defenders Alert (HRDA), four former Supreme Court judges (Aftab Alam, Deepak Gupta, Madan B Lokur, and Gopal Gowda) called for repeal of penal provisions of the draconian laws, saying these are usually misused to stifle dissent and quell the voices which question the government. 

The inhumanity of the state is reflected in the objections raised by the NIA in Bombay High Court to the good words spoken by a judge for Fr. Stan Swamy while hearing the case related to him. Unfortunately, the judge withdrew his appreciation of late Fr. Stan for his good works for the poor and the oppressed. The NIA could not tolerate the appreciation of an 84 year old man who dedicated his life for the wellbeing of Tribals and who is already dead.  

Another example of the insensitivity of the state is the response given by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in Rajya Sabha on July 20 to a question related to death due to the shortage of medical oxygen. The minister stated that “no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by the states and Union Territories”. It was widely reported in the TV channels and newspapers the number of people died in different hospitals in India due the lack of oxygen during the second wave of Covid 19. People could see on the TV screens the relatives of patients sobbing because of the death of their loved ones due to the shortage of oxygen. Still the government is in a denial mood. 

The failure of the opposition parties to expose the game plan of the right wing forces and the damage it has done to the society and Indian democracy is another cause for humanity facing peril in India. They miserably failed to present before the people an alternative vision and ideology to counter the majoritarian and divisive ideology of the ruling party. A good number of Congress leaders who had enjoyed power and perks while they were in the Congress left the party and joined the ruling party, and became the votaries of the majoritarian ideology. Congress party’s hobnobbing with “Soft Hindutva” weakened its ideological commitment to secularism and its credibility to oppose the ideology of the ruling party has become questionable.  

The educational institutions in India are also responsible for the waning of humanitarian values in Indian society, as they failed to instil in the students the core values of Indian constitution. The constitution of India is firmly founded on the humanitarian values of pluralism, justice, equality, liberty, fraternity and dignity of the individuals. If the students could imbibe these values during their education, the socio-political situation in India would not have been as it is today. A recent survey by Pew Research Centre has brought to light that as many as 65% Hindus believe that in order to be a true Indian one has to be a Hindu, and nearly 50 per cent believe that to be a true Indian, one has to be both a Hindu and a Hindi speaker. The Constitution of India is completely against the doctrine that only Hindus are true Indians.

Politicization and commercialization of religion is another reason for creating a situation in which humanity is devalued. Karl Marx said that religion is the opium of people. When religion is politicized it can become poison. People are ready to indulge in any crime, including rape and murder, when politicians use religion to polarize people. Ashish Khetan in his book, ‘Under Cover’, has unravelled the heinous crimes of rape and murder committed on the Muslims by their Hindu neighbours during the 2002 Gujarat riots.  The horror stories of Gujarat riot or of any communal riot tell the disastrous consequences of politicization of religion. Commercialization and politicization of religion robs religion of its essence, spirituality, and religion can become an instrument of exploitation, oppression and persecution. 

The minorities in India, especially Muslims and Christians, have been concerned about their rights and they did not pay sufficient attention to promote the Indian Constitutional values. In the absence of secularism as envisaged in the Indian constitution the very existence of the minorities will be in danger. If the minorities in India focus more on the spiritual values of their faith and promotion of Indian constitutional values than on the externalities like rituals and multiplication of worship centres, they will have the stamina to withstand the onslaught by the right wing forces. The spiritual values of all faiths promote humanity or humanness. For example, the most important teaching of Jesus is to love one another.  “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn.13:34-35). Selfless love transcending the boundaries of religion, caste, language etc, should be the hallmark of a Christian as well as the Christian communities in India in order to counter an ideology that is divisive, exclusive and hateful. 

In the ultimate analysis, hatred towards the “other” and using hatred as a political mobilization strategy have created a situation in which humanity is in peril in our country. The solution is nothing but practising and promoting the sacred and ennobling values of Indian Constitution.