The chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the Assam government has asked the centre to impose an immediate and complete ban on the Popular Front of India(PFI). Sarma, however, added that the request was made not because of PFI’s stand on the hijab row but for their direct involvement in ‘subversive activities and radicalisation’.
“Assam has demanded an immediate complete ban on PFI (Popular Front of India) from the central govt, not because of the hijab issue, it’s their democratic right, but because of their direct involvement with subversive activities & radicalisation,” Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Assam has demanded an immediate complete ban on PFI (Popular Front of India) from the central govt, not because of the hijab issue, it’s their democratic right, but because of their direct involvement with subversive activities & radicalisation: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma pic.twitter.com/RJV7h870dU
— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2022
Notably, the Popular Front of India had recently lamented over the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blast verdict wherein the court sentenced the death penalty to 38 convicts while 11 others were awarded life imprisonment. PFI chairman OMA Salam raised aspersions on the verdict, stating that the verdict in the case is a “result of a tainted process, questionable investigation and draconian laws”.
A special court in Ahmedabad announced the sentences in the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blast case on Friday 18th February 2022. In the verdict, the court has awarded death sentences to as many as 38 convicts out of the 49 accused who were convicted in this case, while the remaining 11 have been sentenced to life imprisonment until death. Earlier on 8th February 2022, the court had convicted 49 out of 77 accused in the case. The serial bomb blasts that took place in Ahmedabad on 26th July 2008 had caused 56 deaths and 243 innocent citizens were injured in the blasts.
PFI involvement in fuelling protests over hijab row
Recently, the role of the Campus Front of India(CFI), the notorious student wing of the radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India, in instigating the Muslim students to create the hijab controversy in Udupi, Karnataka, had come to light. According to a January 19, 2022 report by The News Minute, the Muslim students who are protesting against uniform regulations in the state were in contact with radical Islamist outfit CFI. The students admitted that they began wearing the hijab in college only in December 2021, realising that there was no particular rule banning the hijab in the college rulebook.
Reportedly, the Women’s Government Pre-University College in Udupi, the epicentre of the burqa protests, has become a hub for PFI to carry out its communal political events, especially over the last year. It is being said that a few Muslim students of the college had participated in a protest organised by ABVP in October 2021.
PFI being funded for promoting Islam and radicalisation drives in India: Reports
Last year, a Kerala-based journalist had made a sensational disclosure regarding how radical Islamic organisations such as the Popular Front of India and Jamaat-e-Islami were receiving funds to promote Islamism in India. In a Clubhouse discussion, Kerala-based journalist MP Basheer had revealed details about the international funding to advance radical Islam in the country.
In his disclosure, Basheer had said that he had accessed a letter written by Jamaat-e-Islami requesting the King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia to increase the financial grant to the radical Islamic organisation so that they could create awareness and promote the Islamic dress code in Kerala and India. He had further stated that Jamaat had objected to certain Muslim women journalists not wearing hijabs and had stated that Basheer should tell them to wear hijabs.
