A senior Patna officer’s comment saying that ‘PFI training camps are like RSS shakhas’ has snowballed into a huge row, with BJP leaders demanding his sacking. The PFI, which describes itself as an organisation for social work, has been allegedly involved in forced conversions and multiple murders
A senior Patna police officer’s comments during a press conference about the detection of a “potential terror module” with links to the Popular Front of India has set off a row.
Patna’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon is now in the eye of a storm after he drew parallels between the training of extremist outfit Popular Front Of India (PFI) with the training at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas.
His comments drew condemnation from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and as per reports, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the top police officers to seek an explanation from Dhillon within the next 48 hours.
What did the cop say?
Patna’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon on Thursday comment came as he was interacting with the media on the issue of a suspected terrorist module being busted in Patna and the arrest of two possible terror suspects.
The two were arrested from Patna, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit on Tuesday.
Speaking on the arrests, the SSP said that the two had links to the PFI and was explaining the modus operandi of the group.
“The organisation worked at masjids and madrassas to mobilise youths and worked to radicalise them. The modus operandi was similar to that of RSS shakhas. They train the youth under the guise of physical education and spread their agenda. We got documents of camps teaching martial arts and training members to use sticks and swords under the guise of physical training. The document was being used to radicalise, brain wash and mobilise people,” he said.
The cop’s comments drew outrage from BJP leaders and prompted a row between the BJP and opposition parties in the state.
BJP MLA Harish Bhushan Thakur labelled the SSP as ‘mentally insolvent’ for comparing PFI with RSS. “The SSP’s statement is proof of his mental bankruptcy,” Thakur said, demanding an immediate apology from Dhillon. The officer should be sacked if he doesn’t apologise, he added.
The former deputy chief minister of the state, Sushil Modi, said that the SSP should immediately withdraw such a statement and apologise for it.
Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha-Secular defended the cop. “All he said was the way RSS has shakhas, these people do too. It did not mean that he was calling the RSS a terrorist organisation,” said Danish Rizwan, chief spokesman of Hindustani Awam Morcha, as per an NDTV report.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also extender their support to the SSP, tweeting: “Patna’s Senior Superintendent of Police has rightly said about the modus operandi of the Sangh that these people spread their propaganda and hatred in the name of physical training! And in some areas, they carry out riots, mob lynchings and other anti-social harmony activities.”
Who are the PFI?
The Popular Front of India, which has been in existence since 2007, has been on the radar of security and the intelligence agencies in the country.
In January 2020, the Uttar Pradesh government had sent a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking a ban on the Popular Front of India, accusing the outfit of “masterminding and instigating violence” during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens.
The group describes itself as an organisation that works towards “the achievement of socio-economic, cultural and political empowerment of the deprived and the downtrodden and the nation at large”.
Its birth came about in Kerala with the merger of three Muslim organisations floated after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 — the National Development Front of Kerala, Karnataka Forum for Dignity and Manitha Neethi Pasari of Tamil Nadu. After the demolition of the Babri mosque, many fringe outfits had surfaced in south India and PFI was formed after merging some of them.
Over the next few years, the PFI grew in strength and it shifted its base from Kozhikode, Kerala to New Delhi.
However, what emerged as a troubling trend was that a lot its leaders came from banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
In 2009, the PFI’s political arm, known as the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), was born and its mission statement was: “to fight for the advancement and uniform development of all the citizenry, including Muslims, Dalits, Backward Classes and Adivasis.”
The SDPI was headed by E Abubacker who used to be the Kerala Zone president of SIMI between 1982-84.
That same year its student wing, the Campus Front of India (CFI), was also founded. The CFI was recently in the spotlight for fueling the hijab controversy in Karnataka.
Controversies of the PFI
PFI members have been accused of murder, rioting, intimidation, and having links with terrorist organisations. They have also been accused of carrying out forced religious conversions in Malappuram and other districts of Kerala.
In July 2010, the group captured the country’s attention when its members chopped off the right hand of TJ Joseph, a professor of Malayalam, for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed in an internal question paper that Joseph had set.
In 2012, the Kerala government headed by Congress’ Oomen Chandy had also informed the high court that PFI was “nothing but a resurrection of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in another form”.
In 2018, CFI and SDPI activists were also accused of murdering Abhimanyu, a Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader inside Maharaja’s College, in Ernakulam. As per the chargesheet, Sahal Hamsa, a CFI leader, had stabbed Abhimanyu during a clash between the left-leaning SFI and the CFI over a graffiti.
Calls to ban them
There have been multiple calls to ban the PFI as it has been accused of instigating protests against the State.
Their involvement in the hijab row in Karnataka also reinvigorated calls to ban the group.
But the PFI dismisses these allegations, saying most of the recent campaigns were aimed at distracting attention from burning issues.
“We don’t need any certificate from anyone. We strongly believe in Constitution of the country and its democracy. ‘Live with dignity and without fear’ is our motto. We are here to empower the Muslim community,” state general secretary of C P Muhammad Basheer was quoted as telling the Hindustan Times.
With inputs from agencies
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