In the light of the arrest of human rights activist, Fr Stan Swamy for his alleged links with Bhima Koregaon case, St Joseph’s Evening College (Autonomous) (SJEC) conducted a national webinar on ‘asserting democratic rights’ on October 13, 2020, 6.00 p.m. The webinar aimed to create awareness regarding the situations surrounding the arrest of Fr Stan and the Constitutional rights of Indian citizens.

The resource persons for the webinar were Mr Ravi Nair, South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre and Mr Jagmohan Singh, Editor, World Sikh News. The session was moderated by Dr Paul Newman, Professor, Dept of History, SJEC.

Referring to the arrest of Fr Stan Swamy, Mr Ravi Nair pointed out that Fr Swamy is a symbol and by arresting him the government is sending a message to be careful, and not take up issues related to Dalits as it goes against corporate interests. He called the charges against Fr Stan as a completely cooked up case, and he sarcastically referred to NIA as the National Imagination Agency. Mr Nair urged teachers and students to come out and fight against injustice, and only then substantial change can be brought out. He also discussed that people can take up passive resistance such as boycotting Ambani companies’ products (as these companies fund BJP government), and to not associate oneself with Hindutva elements.

“The image of India as the largest democracy should be shaken and broken,” said Mr Nair. Mr Jagmohan stated that men and women of religion have to be more forthright and forthcoming in the political sphere.
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