Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s all-India DGP level meet in Tekanpur, Madhya Pradesh in January, we already have the first Indian state to officially ban the Islamic Extremist outfit PFI and for this CM Raghubar Das deserves serious commendation.
Jharkhand has become the first Indian state to officially take the bull by its horns and ban Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state calling the activities of this “NGO” influenced by ISIS in their official release.
The release further said the organization has been most active in Pakur district. Unfurling their anarchy in the state, the extremist outfit recently celebrated their anniversary putting up posters in Pakur calling people for a ‘school chalo’ program. The state police had to conduct a flag march and take down all the propaganda material.
Jharkhand government release stated, “The action has been taken following a proposal of the Home Department/ police on which the Law Department has also given its consent”.
Adding to their official statement, the release said, “Popular Front of India started in Kerala. The members of this organization are internally influenced by the ISIS. An inquiry by Special Branch has revealed that some members of this organization have gone secretly to Syria from the South Indian states and (are) working for ISIS.”
The NSI dossier submitted in September last year included four major cases that has made the government worried about PFI’s growing violence:
1.) Chopping of a professor’s hand in Kerala’s Idukki
2.) Training camp in Kannur from where swords and bombs were seized
3.) Murder of RSS leader Rudresh in Bengaluru
4.) Islamic State Al-Hindi Module case
After National Investigation Agency submitted a report on the terrorist activities of the PFI to government in September 2017, the government’s approach has become extremely action oriented. A Janaraksha yatra was organized in Kerala the very next month in October by the BJP where the ministers pointed out the inhuman activities of the outfit. The Prime Minister personally attended the all India DGP level meet in January, 2018 shifting the center from Delhi to Madhya Pradesh stating that such meetings should be decentralized and take place in different states. Now, Jharkhand, another BJP ruled state, has become the first to officially ban PFI.
With the banning of PFI in Jharkhand, the BJP plans to mount the pressure on Karnataka Congress ahead of the state elections. Recently, even after the NSI report mentioning about the involvement of PFI in murder of RSS volunteer Rudresh, the state government has taken back cases from multiple youths involved with the PFI.
As the state politics boils further, a serious mud-slinging has began between the two political giants of the nation. On January 14 this year, the Karnataka Congress Home Minister had said that there is no proposal to ban the PFI. The minister Ramalinga Reddy said that they would hold a discussion on the matter before taking a considered call.
BJP has been demanding a ban on PFI and its political wing SDPI, holding them responsible for a spate of killings of “Hindu activists” in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district. Noting that BJP was demanding a ban on PFI, the Home Minister said not only PFI but Bajrang Dal, RSS and Sri Rama Sena were also involved in violence.
The state Congress has already dropped as many as 100 cases against the PFI operatives.
The dark history of PFI involves cases of ruthless murders, instigating riots, chopping of limbs, love jihad and multiple religiously motivated hate crimes. The NSI reported that PFI members are made to see the Babri demolition videos installing hatred in their hearts. As a result, we saw PFI spreading its wings all the way from Kerala to Uttar Pradesh and pamphlets were all over Uttar Pradesh’s walls before this 6th December, 2017 calling for reconstruction of a mosque on the site.
We hope that the government seriously picks up the pace with banning the outfit alongside with punishing its members. Banning the outfit in one state should not be used by the BJP as a political gimmick to pressurize Congress but serious steps must be taken keeping in mind the security of Indians.
