St Xavier’s College cancels Stan Swamy lecture after ABVP protests https://scroll.in/latest/1085385/mumbai-st-xaviers-college-cancels-stan-swamy-lecture-after-abvp-protests The lecture, titled “Migration for Livelihood: Hope amidst Miseries”, was to be delivered virtually by Father Prem Xalxo, professor of Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome.
On Tuesday, the ABVP unit in Mumbai stated a group of its workers had met with the principal of St Xavier’s College and submitted a letter demanding the “immediate cancellation” of the lecture. “ABVP firmly believes that organising a lecture in memory of a person accused in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case, facing UAPA charges for links with banned Maoist groups, is an attempt to glorify urban Naxalism on campus,” said the Hindutva group.
Frazer Mascarenhas, a former principal of St Xavier’s College, said the cancellation of the lecture was “saddening”. “The ABVP accusations against Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy are totally unfounded because the Pune Police and then the NIA have so far only made allegations against him and have been unable to prove them in a court for more than five years,” said Mascarenhas. He added: “In fact, the case has not yet begun and may be delayed eternally for fear of being thrown out as fabricated.”
Noting that the constitutional provisions do not function under the “rule of the mob”, the former principal said that Swamy’s contributions towards the cause of Adivasi empowerment should be written about widely.