MUMBAI, Sept. 14 -- "This lecture is an act of resistance; resistance to suppression of freedom of expression, resistance to bulldozing our democracy and constitution, resistance to an attempt to intimidate marginalised sections of society and educational institutions, in what can be taught, what lectures are arranged, and what cannot, and their being dictated by Hindu nationalist organisations, which have a political agenda and muscle power to exercise it," said Irfan Engineer, director of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. Engineer was introducing 'Migration for Livelihood, Hope Amidst Miseries', the annual Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture hosted by 58 civil society groups, at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, at Nariman Point, on Saturday. If Engineer appeared to be off-topic, he wasn't. Through his diatribe, he was referencing the cancellation of the previous edition of the lecture, scheduled for August 9 at St Xavier's College, due to opposition from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The lecture series will be held annually in memory of the Jesuit priest who died in custody during his trial in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case in 2021. Saturday's lecture revisited the life of Father Swamy, who lived in service of the adivasis in Jharkhand. It opened with a screening of 'A Caged Bird Can Still Sing', a documentary on the life of the activist-priest. "In his death," said Mihir Desai, Father Swamy's lawyer, "he has become a martyr, and has become a force of inspiration for many." Chair of the lecture, advocate Indira Jaising, spoke about Father Swamy's work. "He was enforcing the rights of the adivasis as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, which had been snatched away starting with the British, who did not recognise the tillers' right to the land they cultivate." Father Prem Xalxo, SJ, associate lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, said, "Teenage tribal girls from many states are forced to migrate to cities and work as cheap domestic labour, where they are vulnerable to physical, sexual and psychological abuse," said Father Xalxo, with accompanying case studies of such abuse. The lecture received overwhelming support. As the lecture ended and the hall emptied, Father Swamy's spirit lingered in the silence, as if to say, "As long as the struggle for justice endures, he lives on."...