Over 100 PFI activists detained in anti-terror raids – All you need to know about the Popular Front of India

Over a 100 top Popular Front of India (PFI) leaders and functionaries were raided by the National investigation Agency (NIA) across ten states on Thursday (September 22) morning in what is believed to be the “largest ever” crackdown till date.

The anti-terror agency swooped on the offices and homes of its leaders in a coordinated move with the Enforcement Directorate (which investigates money laundering offences and violations of foreign exchange laws) and the state police.

The most number of arrests numbering 22 were made in Kerala (where PFI has its roots), there were 20 each in Maharashtra and Karnataka, ten in Tamil Nadu, followed by Uttar Pradesh (8), Assam (9), Andhra Pradesh (5), Madhya Pradesh (4), Delhi (3), Puducherry (3), and Rajasthan (2).

The PFI has long been on the government radar for its alleged incendiary activities. The raids come amid fresh accusations against the organisation by the Karnataka government that it was behind stirring up agitations over the wearing of hijab at educational institutions in the state.

What is the PFI?

The PFI was launched in 2006 in Kerala with the merger of three outfits in south India: the Kerala-based National Development Front (NDF), the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), and the Manitha Neethi Parasai (MNP) in Tamil Nadu. These organisations were floated as a response to the Babri Masjid demolition in the 1990s.

Among its founding members are vice-chairman EM Abdul Rahiman (general secretary of SIMI between 1982 and 1993), Social Democratic Party of India president E Aboobacker (Kerala state president of SIMI from 1982 to 1984), and Professor P Koya, national executive member and one of the tallest leaders of the PFI.

The PFI calls itself a socio-political movement formed to protect minority rights as well as the rights of the marginalised. Its members have protested the latest raids calling them a scheme to “silence dissenting voices”. However, the organisation has always had run-ins with the law.

PFI has close links with the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) which was involved in several terror attacks, including the series of blasts in Mumbai between 2002 and 2003. Many of the PFI founder members were SIMI leaders.

While the group has roots in South India, it has spread its branches across the country in the last two decades. With its growing prominence, the PFI moved its headquarters from Kerala to the national capital Delhi. The PFI had a spurt in growth between 2009 and 2012 when Goa’s Citizen’s forum, Rajasthan’s Community Social and Educational Society, West Bengal’s Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Samiti, manipir’s Lilong Social Forum, and Andhra Pradesh’s Association of Social Justice merged into the outfit.

Controversies dog the outfit

The PFI spawned the Social Democratic Party of India (the political arm of the group) gaining electoral legitimacy even as its activities were under the scanner. The BJP, which has picked up the cudgels against the group, alleges it proliferated often by tacit support from other parties. However, as the PFI-SDPI grew in clout, reports say that even the Congress and JD(S) members in Karnataka became weary of its presence.

The Kerala government has been accused of going soft on majority and minority fundamentalism.

The outfit has always been on the NIA’s radar which has called it a “threat to national security” and alleged that it carries out forced conversions. Yet, lack of conclusive evidence and legal delays have ensured that PFI escapes an outright ban.

The outfit entered the national spotlight when its activists were found guilty of chopping the right palm of Kerala professor T J Joseph in 2010.

PFI has also been accused of politically motivated murders and terror plots. In recent years, the Enforcement Directorate has also been probing the PFI for allegedly funding the 2020 riots in Delhi. It has also been linked to the 2020 gold smuggling racket in Kerala. It is believed to be behind marriage for conversions in Karnataka and Kerala, communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and has been accused of “sedition”. The 2019 Easter bombings in Sri Lanka were also traced to south India and the PFI was raided in connection with the gruesome attack on a church that left 269 people dead.