Human Rights Defenders Data Information Knowledge Solidarity

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On January 1, 2018, a much larger number of Dalits came to Bhima-Koregaon to celebrate the 200th anniversary.

Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote "desecrated the samadhi of a Dalit icon near Pune on December 29, sparking the riots that engulfed Mumbai on Tuesday and could put the city in a gridlock...". https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/the-two-who-brought-your-city-to-a-halt/articleshow/62344275.cms  The timing of their ransacking of the samadhi located in a village named Wadhu in Pune district was telling. They desecrated the Samadhi on December 29, knowing fully well that thousands of Dalits would gather on January 1 at a nearby village called Bhima-Koregaon to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Peshva army at the hands of British forces comprising mainly Dalit soldiers.

A pune based Businessman, Tushar Damgude’s complaint, which the police filed as a first information report on January 8, alleged the violence that marred a Dalit commemoration at Bhima Koregaon on January 1 was instigated by leftist activists with alleged Maoist links who had spoken at a public meeting called Elgar Parishad the previous day. https://scroll.in/article/892596/im-a-small-person-meet-tushar-damgude-whose-police-complaint-sparked-the-crackdown-on-activists He accuses activists such as Sudhir Dhawale, Varavara Rao and Jignesh Mevani of spreading violent ideas and inciting Dalits to rise against the upper castes.

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Stan Swamy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNVibqUVZDU&feature=youtu.be

Says Stan in the transcript of his interrogation by the NIA earlier this year “I moved to Jharkhand [from Bangalore] and was associated with the JOHAR (Jharkhand Organization for Human Rights) at Chaibasa for a few years. Then I moved to Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state, and founded Bagaicha, a Jesuit social research and training centre at Namkum, Ranchi. I have been active at Bagaicha for the last 15 years. I have been working in collaboration with people’s movements that were working against unjust displacement, human rights violations, illegal land acquisitions, and policies that were designed or amended to acquire more land, making the indigenous people landless. I have been writing and supporting the struggles for the implementation of the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitutions, implementation of the provisions of Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 and the Samata Judgment by the Supreme Court of India and promoted the concept of ‘Owner of the land will be the owners of Minerals therein’. https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/19500/What-is-that-Tamil-Man-Swami-doing-in-Jharkhand-

Fr Stan Swamy: His life : PUCL press Conference #BK16 https://youtu.be/isaa0CMN4qQ

On 8th October, 2020, 83-year-old Father Stan Swamy became the 16th activists to be arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon case. Marianus Kujur, the director of XISS, Ranchi talked of Stan Swamy’s life, principles and work. He said that “Stan Swamy is not a tribal by birth, but a tribal by choice.” He has written extensively on tribal assertion and against land displacement. Stan has always stood for inclusiveness, diversity and for the poor. He raised a critical question that since 60 years, no one has ever raised such questions on him and how come he became anti-national in the last two years. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, unable to join the press conference, sent a video message. He acknowledged Stan Swamy’s work with the Adivasis and marginalised in Jharkhand since decades and strongly condemned his arrest. The Bishop of Ranchi asked why would anyone be afraid of a 83 year old activist.