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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.
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 in India.< The organizations like bajrangdal and VHP has been involved in a large number of communal incidents in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In particular the Bajrangdal activities in instigating Hindus against Muslimss came into sharp focus during the religious riots that rocked Mysore city during 2009 when Bajrangdal organized riots resulting in the deaths of 3 people and injuries to scores of innocent citizens and policemen.
Attack on Professor T J Joseph
Main article: Attack on T. J. JosephOn July 4, 2010, two activists of the Popular Front of India were arrested in conjunction with an incident in which they hurled homemade bombs at and chopped the hand off a Kerala professor who allegedly attacked Muslim religious sentiments in class.The professor's family was also attacked by PFI Muslims, including his wife and 83 year old mother in law. The state police of Kerala have reported that a network of PFI Muslim radicals have been unearthed that stretches to the Arab Gulf States, and that the PFI cadres who assaulted the Kerala professor have fled the country..PFI members have sent death threats to policemen investigating the incident.
On July 09, 2010, it was reported that PFI installations were being raided by police, and that they have found propaganda videos from the global Islamic terrorist network al-Qaeda in the possession of the PFI. They have also found firearms, fake SIM cards, and fake identity cards.
"Love Jihad" against Hindus and Christians
Further information: Love JihadIn 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 charges
According to the Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan, the Popular Front of India had plans to Islamize Kerala in 20 years using "money and marriages". The Chief Minister charged that the Popular Front of India was trying to multiply Muslim numbers in the state "by influencing youth of other religions and converting them by giving money, marrying them to Muslim women and thus producing kids of the community”.
References
- Handsome Muslim men accused of waging 'love jihad' in India The Telegraph, 13 Oct 2009
- PFI - an Extremist Caucus Radiance views weekly, 6-July-2010
- "Muslim bodies float front". The Hindu. 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- Popular Front of India floated
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6316966/Handsome-Muslim-men-accused-of-waging-love-jihad-in-India.html
- http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kerala-lecturer-attack-police-crackdown-against-radicals-36834
- See the background section in site popularfront-india.com
- Summery section : popularfront-india.com
- "`Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections'". The Hindu. 2007-02-18. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- Alan Hart addressing in Empower India Conference
- http://www.timesofindia.com/2009/34580100.htm
- 2 arrested in lecturer assault case Hindustan Times - July 5, 2010
- Alastair Lawson (8 July 2010). "Family of Indian professor 'forgives' attackers". BBC News.
- "Gulf-bound persons under police scanner". Express News Service. 09 Jul 2010.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - HT Correspondent. "Kerala prof attacker now threatens cop". Hindustan Times.
{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help) - Press Trust Of India (09 July, 2010). "Propaganda CD suspected to be that of Al Queda seized". Hindustan Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-hc-wants-probe-into-love-jihad/523630/
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Love-Jihad-racket-VHP-Christian-groups-find-common-cause/articleshow/5117548.cms
- http://www.ucanews.com/2009/10/13/church-state-concerned-about-love-jihad/]
- http://www.kaumudi.com/news/071110/kerala.stm#12
- http://www.manoramanews.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/mmtvContentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&contentId=7528735&tabId=14&BV_ID=@@@
- http://mangalam.com/index.php?page=detail&nid=320268&lang=malayalam
- http://www.indianexpress.com/news/blood-on-their-hands/644789/5
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kerala-CM-reignites-love-jihad-theory/articleshow/6216779.cms
External links
- Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections, The Hindu, Feb 18, 2007
- Video summarizing the Empower India Conference