The notorious radical organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) has also got support from Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal, on the same day the Congress-led Rajasthan government authorised the extremist outfit, set to be banned in India, to stage an annual march on February 17 to mark its formation day.
According to a report by ThePrint, the Popular Front of India organised a rally in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Thursday, February 17, where a representative of the ruling Trinamool Congress (Manirul Islam, TMC MLA from Farakka) was openly seen sharing a stage with members of the notorious Islamist organisation.
During the rally, the PFI national secretary Mohamed Shakif spewed venom against RSS by calling it a “cancer” and accusing it of dividing India’s Hindus and Muslims amid slogans of Allahu Akbar and PFI zindabad. The TMC MLA, in turn, stood shoulder to shoulder with the PFI leader, heaping praises for the “overwhelming” response the radical outfit received from the people of West Bengal, read the report.
TMC and Congress Govt in Rajasthan on the same plain
It may be recalled that only yesterday, the Ashok-Gehlot government in Rajasthan had also permitted the PFI to hold a protest in the state. On Thursday, radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) had organised a ‘unity march’ in Rajasthan’s Kota on the occasion of its annual ‘PFI Day’.
This came despite the PFI’s designation as a radical hate organisation by the National Investigation Agency and its documented involvement in a number of communal riots and conflicts, including the hijab row.
With its insensitive decision to let the rally take place in the state, the Congress government infuriated the BJP, which accused the former of legitimising the extremist organisation.
However, this isn’t the first time a TMC leader has been seen expressing support for the hardline group. TMC MP Abu Taher Khan sparked outrage in 2020 when PFI posters bearing his name were distributed in Murshidabad in support of anti-CAA-NRC protests.
PFI – a radical Islamic organisation
Ever since it was formed in 2006, the Popular Front of India (PFI) has been involved in several clashes. The radical Islamic outfit has been allegedly involved in several clashes and political murders. The radical Islamic organisation has been accused of having links with the banned Islamic terror group Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Several investigation agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have named PFI in many cases. The first module of Islamic State that NIA busted in Kerala had some members of PFI. Along with its youth wing – SDPI, PFI perpetrates crimes against Hindus and is responsible for communal riots across the country.
The PFI is currently active in seven states of India. According to the Uttar Pradesh police, PFI has been active in different parts of India since 2010, and the members of this group have been involved in disrupting the peace and harmony in the country.
Most recently, the Popular Front of India along with Islamic organisations like the Jamaat-e-Islami have come under the scanner for being involved in orchestrating the Karnataka hijab protests. Several reports have emerged revealing how the notorious radical Islamic outfit Campus Front of India (CFI) – the student wing of Popular Front of India and banned radical terror outfit Jamaat-e-Islami Hind had counselled Muslim students to orchestrate the hijab controversy in Karnataka.
It is worth mentioning that radical Islamic organisations such as PFI, SDPI and other associated organisations had come under the scanner in UP after the anti-CAA violence triggered in the state in the years 2020 and 2021. In addition, several leaders of the Popular Front of India were also named as accused in the Bengaluru riots that took place in August 2020.
Last year in January, the Yogi Adityanath-led UP Government had asked for a ban on PFI because of the violence caused by PFI members during the anti-CAA riots.
PFI members have been frequently found to be indulging in criminal activities, including murder with communal motives. Earlier in January, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had alleged that the PFI raised money through hawala channels for running terror camps in Kerala.
Besides this, it has been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala. The activists of its political arm SDPI were arrested for an ABVP worker’s brutal murder in Kerala’s Kannur. Furthermore, PFI members were accused of killing 42-year-old activist Ramalingam. The activist was brutally murdered for opposing forced religious conversions. In the past, the PFI members have been accused of chopping off the hands of a Kerala Professor for allegedly insulting the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
In Kerala, most of its leaders were members of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India. Reportedly, the PFI was allegedly involved in at least 24 political murders in Kerala.
In February last year, during a rally to mark the Moplah Massacre of Hindus, PFI had paraded men dressed in RSS uniforms in Kerala. A video from the rally confirmed a lot of Islamic chanting, including “Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illallah Muhammad ur Rasulullah”, and others chanted during the procession.
