A petition to give Padma Vibhushan honory posthumously to the champion of

Tribal Rights Fr Stanislaus Lourduswamy

Fr Stanislaus Lourduswamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit priest and champion of tribal rights, was a humanist and a voice for the voiceless. He passed away in judicial custody, at a private hospital in Mumbai on July 5, 2021. It marked the end of an era, for the legendary fighter was, for many, the “Advocate General of Tribal Rights”.

“A champion of tribal rights and a humanist to the core, he raised his voice against the non-implementation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which stipulated setting up of a Tribes Advisory Council with members solely of the adivasi community,”

Who was the Father?

Born Stanislaus Lourduswamy (Stan Swamy) in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, the priest had made Jharkhand’s tribal villages (then part of the larger Bihar state) his karmabhumi. He first came to the region in 1965. In the early 1970s, he lived in an interior Ho (a tribe) village to learn their language and get to know their world. He also learned tribal languages and Hindi to communicate fluently with the indigenous people.

The beginning

As a trainee Jesuit Catholic Priest, he had been sent to St Xavier’s High School in Lupungutu, Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, as a teacher and hostel prefect. “He would visit the weekly village market in Chaibasa with his students and soon recognised how the non-tribal merchants and agents were exploiting the Adivasis,”.

Fr Swamy went to Manila in the Philippines in 1967 to study theology. In the course of his studies there, he learnt about the struggles of indigenous peoples across the world, and how they were being exploited. When Fr Stan returned to India, he joined the Jamshedpur province Jesuits in 1971.

Fr Stan had a fairly long stint (1975-’90) at the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru, but his engagement with the tribals in the ‘Jharkhand’ region continued. He finally returned in 1991 to work among the Adivasis and began championing popular causes and reviving the traditional self-governance (Munda-Manki) system of Ho society. He worked steadfastly to build public opinion against the displacement of tribals when the Netarhat Field Firing Range project came up in the Palamu and Gumla districts and when the Koel-Karo dam project took shape in Ranchi and West Singhbhum. He moved to Ranchi in June 2001.

Appeal

We the citizens of India, appeal to you to honour Fr. Stan with second highest civilian award Padma Vibushan (posthumously)  as an honour to the Man who gave his life to the cause of adivasis.

Thank You

Anthony (Vikram)