Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 12:35, 10 August 2010

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. When placing this tag, consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (August 2010)

The Popular Front of India is a confederation of Muslim fundamentalist and extremist organizations which is active in southern India. Its slogan is Naya Karavan : Naya Hindustan, which means The new travelling group and the new India. The Front was formed on November 22, 2006 and is supported by the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), the National Development Front (NDF), and Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP).

These organisations are active in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, respectively. They are alleged to have links to Islamic terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India). PFI has been accused of supporting a "Love Jihad" in the southern Indian state of Kerala.. Kerala State Police has arrested two leaders of Popular Front of India on the execution of hand chopping of Professor T J Joseph alleging blasphemy.

Background

A common platform with the name South India Council was formed as the outcome of a Regional Discussion attended by Muslim social activists and intellectuals from all the South Indian States at Bangalore on 25 & 26 January 2004. South India Council has taken up various issues related to community empowerment, especially reservation in education and employment. South India Council, with the cooperation of Confederation of Muslim Institutions in India organized a two day Workshop on Muslim Reservation on 26 & 27 November 2005 at Hyderabad. Mr. K. Rahman Khan, Hon’ble Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha inaugurated the same.

In the context of Central Government decision to introduce reservation in higher education, South India Council has organized three Regional Conventions on Reservation: at Calicut on 4 August 2006, at Bangalore on 5 August 2006, and at Chennai on 17 August 2006. A National Convention on Reservation in Higher Education was organized by the South India Council jointly with All India Milli Council at New Delhi on 29 August 2006. The dignitaries who addressed the convention include Mr. V. P. Singh, Hon’ble Former Prime Minister and Mr. Oscar Fernandez, Hon’ble Union Minister.

Confereration of Organisations

The following three state level organizations have proved their commitment to the common cause of social justice by actively involving in various programmes of the Council.

• Karnataka Forum for Dignity - (KFD)
• National Development Front - (NDF)
• Manitha Neethi Pasarai - (MNP)
• Lillong Social Forum (Manipur)
• Andhra Pradesh Association for social justice (Andhra Pradesh)
• Community Social and Educational Society (Rajstan)
• Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Samithi (West Bengal)
• Goa Citizens Forum (Goa)

It is felt that if these three independent state level organizations work with more cooperation and coordination, the results would be more evident. The Secretariat of the South India Council which consists of leaders associated with these three organizations gave serious thought to this matter in different meetings. The issue was discussed within the respective organizations also. All the state organizations have given the opinion that each of them will continue to work separately as independent organizations, but they would work together as constituents of a federation. To mark a successful turning point to the above efforts, a joint meeting of the Secretariat of South India Council and representatives of KFD, NDF and MNP held 22 November 2006 at Calicut decided to launch Popular Front of India as a federation and approved the vision statement.

Popular Front of India declares that it will confine its activities to the South Indian States and presently this federation includes KFD, NDF and MNP.

Events

• Empower India Conference : In February 2007, the PFI organised a three-day Empower India Conference in Bangalore, which ended with a public rally that gathered over 30,000 people..In the conference, one of the main guest, Alan Hart, British journalist specialising in West-Asian affairs, said that he had unlearnt many stereotypes about the oppressed classes in the course of making a film on global poverty.
• National Political Conference

The Grand Public Meeting at Calicut beach on 17 February 29 which marked the conclusion of National Political Conference witnessed the merger of social organizations in eight states in to Popular Front of India. Along with the states presidents of NDF Kerala, MNP Tamil Nadu and KFD Karnataka which have already merged with Popular Front, heads of social organizations in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Manipur joined hands on the dais with the Popular Front chairman.

Social Activities

Their Popular Front and its allies actively involve fight against corruption and other social issues.

School Chalo Program

The organization conducts School Chalo program each year during the June-July period when the school re-opens. During this campaign, they conducted various awareness program and promotion packages to send the poor and discontinued students to school .

Reservation for Oppressed

Mass demonstration and rallies are conducted by Popular Front of India to make common people aware about their right to get education and Job. They have conducted parliament marchParliament March for Muslim Reservation . They conducted caravans and awareness campigns in Cities like Kokata

Involvement in violence and terrorism

The PFI is alleged to be a front for Islamic terrorist organizations and is seen by many quarters as the political facade for Radical Islam in India. The organization has been involved in a large number of communal incidents in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In particular the PFI's activities in instigating Muslims against Hindus came into sharp focus during the religious riots that rocked Mysore city during 2009 when PFI organized riots resulting in the deaths of 3 people and injuries to scores of innocent citizens and policemen..

On July 11, 2010 Police has seized bombs, weapons from a Popular Front of India office at Kannur

Attack against college teacher: What is happening in Kerala?

On 4th July 2010 a college teacher was attacked at Moovattupuzha in Ernakulum district while he was returning from the church. In the attack one of his hands were severed off and he suffered some other minor injuries. The police have arrested some people in this connection. The police stated that the accused were members of Popular Front of India. Popular Front state leadership immediately condemned the incident and clarified that it is not the organization’s policy to be involved in such incidents. Popular Front also offered complete cooperation in the police investigation.

Neither Communal nor Religious

The attacked teacher is an accused in a criminal case for insulting Prophet Muhammad in most heinous manner in a question paper supplied for internal examination in his college situated in the nearby town of Thodupuzha. This town in Idukki district had seen vehement protests by various Muslim organisations in March last when the question paper incident took place. There is a suspicion that the question paper issue is a part of a major conspiracy to hurt the sentiments of Muslims and incite them. It is likely that the man was attacked because of his role in the question paper issue and definitely not because of his religion or profession. Hence this issue should not be given a communal colour.

There were certain incidents in the recent past which had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. In southern Kerala some Christian groups have been secretly distributing books, pamphlets and fliers which abuse the Prophet in most indecent terms. They also tell their followers that Islam is a satanic religion and they should support the Zionist state of Israel as it prepares ground for the return of Jesus Christ. They also support the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and send paramedics, mercenaries and missionaries to Iraq and Afghanistan to support the invasion. They describe it as a golden opportunity to convert Muslims. It is also seen that most of the attacks on Islam and the Prophet come not from traditional Christian churches but Pentecostals and evangelicals financed by rightist Christian groups in the US. They are high pressure missionary groups who raise money on the number of people converted.

Scarf Scare

In some cases, Christian owned institutions were involved in activities which directly aimed at provoking Muslims. The Christian controlled media in particular spread the canard that Muslim students in colleges are involved in wooing high- born Christian and Hindu girls for the purpose of converting them to Islam and terrorism under an operation plan allegedly named Love Jihad. One prominent Christian priest warned that Kerala would become a Muslim state by 2050. The Jagratha Samiti which is a wing of Kerala Christians Bishop’s Council issued a circular asking the Christians to be vigilant about Love Jihad; Finally the High Court had to intervene to call the bluff. 

Not by coincidence certain Christian schools banned Muslim girls wearing scarf in school. During the same period a Christian missionary group published a book abusing Islam and a publishing house released a school text book with Prophet Mohammed’s images. A book containing vitriol against Islam was reprinted and distributed secretly. It is likely that such unfortunate incidents had widened the gap between the two communities and created an atmosphere of mistrust among them. Such incidents are not in the interests of both the communities and also the secular fabric of Kerala.

The media, the CPM and the communal lobby in the police are now using this incident as an excuse for no hold’s barred attack not only on the Popular Front of India but everything related to Islam and Muslims in Kerala. The attack in Thodupuzha was not the first such incident in Kerala. The state has witnessed more gory attacks by organized political parties, Sangh parivar and killer gangs. CPM and RSS are in the forefront of beheadings, choppings and bomb attacks as evidenced by the State Crime Records Bureau. When such incidents take place police usually bring the culprits to book without much hullabaloo. But the current incident was blown out of proportion to blame an organization and a community. Popular Front is relentlessly attacked and Muslim community is made the target. Even the Chief Minister joined the fray accusing Popular Front of planning to make Kerala a Muslim majority state within twenty years. All these were blatant lies as the Front is not involved in missionary work.

It is ironical that both the CPM and RSS which have a long history of being actively involved in all sorts of criminal activities are speaking together against the Popular Front.

Following the incident series of raids were conducted by police in Popular Front offices and residence of its activists. There were unlawful arrests of Popular Front members, breaking into houses at midnight, closing down business and even incidents of physical and verbal harassment of women. Most of the offices and centres of the organization across the state were raided by the police but no objectionable documents or material could be found in any of the offices or centres. Even the offices of the political party SDPI and the human rights organization NCHRO were raided because they protested the police atrocities. The Ernakulam district president of NCHRO was arrested and jailed immediately after he lodged a complaint to National Human Rights Commission about the police harassment of innocent Muslims.

But the police and the communally biased segments of the media propagated that anti-national handbills, books and videos were recovered. The printed materials found at the office were either hand bills or posters related to many public campaigns conducted by the organization. The CD’s were the video documentaries of various public programmes which are sold in public. Every day one political leader or the other raised concern about talibanism and the spectre of Islamic terrorism without even an iota of evidence.

Smear Campaign

In such a situation our worry is not about what is happening to Popular Front. Actually it is the Muslim community being targeted. Muslims who were poor illiterate and under-developed are now coming up in Kerala. The sections which had so far monopolized education, political power and administration are not happy with the recent Muslim advances. There are reasons to believe that the recent smear campaign against Muslims is part of a wide conspiracy aimed to divert the Muslim attention from the path of development. One of the ways to suppress a community is to suppress its dynamic sections. Popular Front of India has been in the forefront of struggles for reservation in government services and the political empowerment of the Muslims and other marginalized sections of the society. With its presence in many states across India, the Front has become the driving force for change in the Muslim community.

There are two possible reasons for targeting the Muslim community through Popular Front. One would be the growing communal influence in the State Government machinery including the police. CPM in spite of its tall claims of secularism is basically a Hindu party in Kerala. The communal imbalance in the administration and police force leads to discrimination and Islam phobia. Another reason is the local body elections expected in September this year and the state assembly elections next year. The ruling CPM controlled LDF does not expect to return to power and is playing a dirty political game to consolidate the Hindu and Christian communal votes. Those Muslim organizations which once supported LDF have deserted them and they do not expect any crucial support from the Muslims as happened in the previous Assembly elections.

Being an organization which has always adhered to the values of the constitution, we are worried about the transformation of a local incident to a catalyst of communal divide. This is not merely an issue about Popular Front or even the Muslim community, but it is a serious concern for the society. The secular fabric of the country is the most sacred element which binds the nation together and any attempt to destroy the secular fabric of the nation by the communal forces, political parties or the biased media should be stopped to safeguard peace and harmony.

"Love Jihad" against Hindus and Christians

In October 2009, Indian Express reported that Muslim radicals affiliated to the Popular Front of India have been engaging in a "Love Jihad" in Kerala, whereby Muslim men were trained to seduce college-going Hindu and Christian girls to marry them and then forcibly convert them to Islam. Hindu and Catholic groups in the state expressed alarm at this trend and have been working together to protest this. The Kerala High Court has resolved to probe the matter. In a recent raid, the state police also recovered pronographic CD's allegedly belonging to victims of Love Jihad.

Connection with other terror networks

The Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) has recommended the Indian Home Ministry to ban the organization Popular Front of India as it has links with international terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Qaeda and Taliban.It also has recommended to hand over the case of hand-chopping of professor to National Investigation Agency.

They also run Sharia Courts- Darul-Khuda with its chairman at Erattupetta and those various branches are also under police scanner.

The Indian Military Intelligence is also conducting probe on the involvement of Popular Front of India on terrorist activities. Some of the pamphlets recovered by Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham has been handed over to Military Intelligence as it indicated that the outfit is monitoring the military installations.

The Popular Front of India is also accused of blocking the wall construction of Naval Armament Depot, Cochin, Kerala in company of a local member of Kerala Legislative Assembly.

Anti - India rants

In 2006, the PFI brought out Thejas, which has its pet themes. The ‘Kashmiri militants’ are referred to as ‘fighters’. The newspaper carries dramatic stories about the “life of victims of police atrocities”, violation of human rights, fake encounters and regularly features anti-West rants

Kerala CM Misleading People

By repeating his baseless allegations against Popular Front of India in the assembly, Kerala chief minister V S Achutanandan was trying to mislead the house and the people of the state, said Popular Front state general secretary, P Abdul Hameed. He challenged the CM to prove that the documents he quoted in the assembly as evidence for the anti democracy stand of Popular Front, was published by the organization. We are not against democracy; we are not trying to establish an Islamic state as CM said. We are working towards empowering Muslims and other marginalized groups in the society. We strive to bring them to the mainstream of the nation. And we are functioning among the Kerala society for last 18 years. Nobody can prove that any of our activities are of anti national nature. Abdul Hameed also challenged the CM to step down if he fails to prove his allegations against Popular Front. Now Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM state secretary has justified the controversial and anti Muslim statement by VS. It means that what VS said was nothing but the policy of CPM. Pinarayi Vijayan cannot speak about secularism with VS in the CM’s seat, who is talking like RSS people, said Abdul Hameed.

References

1. Handsome Muslim men accused of waging 'love jihad' in India The Telegraph, 13 Oct 2009
2. PFI - an Extremist Caucus Radiance views weekly, 6-July-2010
3. "Muslim bodies float front". The Hindu. 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
4. Popular Front of India floated
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6316966/Handsome-Muslim-men-accused-of-waging-love-jihad-in-India.html
6. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kerala-lecturer-attack-police-crackdown-against-radicals-36834
7. See the background section in site popularfront-india.com
8. Summery section : popularfront-india.com
9. "`Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections'". The Hindu. 2007-02-18. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
10. Alan Hart addressing in Empower India Conference
11. exposes malpractice goa poll officers
12. Dharna in front of Passport Office
13. school chalo program
14. School Chalo Program
15. Popular Front to Hold Parliament March for Muslim Reservation
16. National Campaign for Muslim Reservation programme in West Bengal
17. http://www.timesofindia.com/2009/34580100.htm
18. " Police unearths links between Islamic Terrorists and PFI " http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/18/stories/200702165634580100.htm
19. http://mangalam.com/index.php?page=detail&nid=320424&lang=malayalam
20. ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-hc-wants-probe-into-love-jihad/523630/
21. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Love-Jihad-racket-VHP-Christian-groups-find-common-cause/articleshow/5117548.cms
22. http://www.ucanews.com/2009/10/13/church-state-concerned-about-love-jihad/]
23. http://www.kaumudi.com/news/071110/kerala.stm#12
24. http://www.manoramanews.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/mmtvContentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&contentId=7528735&tabId=14&BV_ID=@@@
25. http://mangalam.com/index.php?page=detail&nid=320268&lang=malayalam
26. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/blood-on-their-hands/644789/5

External links

• Popular Front Of India

• Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections, The Hindu, Feb 18, 2007
• Video summarizing the Empower India Conference

• Organisations based in India