New Delhi: The Union government’s ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) Wednesday has come as a “major relief” for the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka, mainly because the party’s state unit is confident that it will help deflect attention from the row surrounding the ‘PayCM’ campaign initiated by the Congress in the state.
Posters captioned ‘PayCM’ with CM Bommai’s photo surfaced in parts of Bengaluru last week, accusing the BJP government of indulging in corruption.
According to a senior BJP leader from Karnataka, the party will make the central government’s “stern action” against the PFI one of its major poll planks ahead of the state assembly election next year.
The ban is also expected to help boost the image of Bommai, who has been under fire not only from the opposition over corruption allegations, but also from his own party’s workers following the murder of BJP youth activist Praveen Nettaru in July.
Union minister Pralhad Joshi had suggested that the PFI and its political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), had links with the murder. The state police made arrests and linked the accused to the PFI, after which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case and conducted raids on the organisation and its affiliates.
Nettaru’s murder in Dakshina Kannada district — considered a BJP bastion — had led to some in the party cadre questioning the government’s approach to dealing with the PFI, and had put a lot of pressure on the Karnataka government.
Now, the ban on the PFI, according to the senior BJP leader quoted above, reflects the “political will” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Bommai, and this will be communicated across the state through its cadre, with a focus on “how the previous regime under the Congress was pro-PFI”.
“This ban is an aspiration of the people, and the BJP is a party that fulfils the aspirations of the people. The demand to ban them has been raised many times in the past, but the former chief minister (Siddaramaiah) and the Congress leadership kept quiet. This ban shows that our government takes internal security as seriously as external,” said the leader.
“The PayCM campaign has already been blunted as the BJP has been raising the issue of the pro-PFI approach of the Congress. Internal security is an important issue and it will resonate among the masses. In fact, the demand for a ban has come from the public itself,” he added.
The ban on the PFI follows nationwide raids on the outfit and its affiliates by the NIA and a number of state police forces, including Karnataka’s.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification declaring the PFI and eight affiliate organisations as “unlawful associations” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, mentions four murder cases of Hindutva activists from Karnataka, in which members of the PFI and its affiliate organisations are accused.
Reacting to the ban, PFI Tamil Nadu president Mohamed Shaik Ansari said: “It has been announced that the Popular Front of India has been banned in India. This illegal and undemocratic ban will be challenged legally by us. Following the ban, the organisation will stop all activities that it had been carrying out in the state.”
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‘Anti-national groups will not survive’
In April this year, BJP president J.P. Nadda, while addressing a rally in Hospet, Karnataka, had accused the Congress of conspiring to divide society using PFI. Nadda directly accused former CM Siddaramaiah of withdrawing cases against the outfit.
In the context of the PFI deciding to contest the ban in court, a second senior BJP functionary said: “A methodical exercise has been done to consolidate the evidence of unlawful activities of the PFI. In case they go to court, they will not be able to get any relief, and we have enough evidence against them.”
“More than 23 Hindus have been killed under the (erstwhile) Siddaramaiah government, and he simply took no action. Karnataka was becoming a hub of terrorists and Bommai ji decided to hand over the cases to the NIA for better results, and it [the ban] has happened. They can launch a ‘PayCM’ campaign but the public knows he (Bommai) is the common man’s CM, and it is this we are going to highlight in our election campaign,” said a third BJP leader.
Bommai has been battling allegations of corruption regarding his government from the Congress, which is hoping to wrest the state from the BJP.
The rival party’s PayCM campaign has posters with a QR code. Upon scanning these, the person is redirected to a website, 40percentsarkara.com, launched by the Congress as part of its poll campaign.
Bommai, while welcoming the decision to ban the PFI for alleged terror activities, said the move sends a message to all “anti-national groups” that “they will not survive in this country”.
“With a lot of background work, information, and cases, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah has taken the right decision. This is the message for all anti-national groups, that they will not survive in this country. I also urge people not to associate with such organisations,” he told reporters.
In a tweet Wednesday, BJP national general secretary B.L. Santhosh — another leader from Karnataka — accused the Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) of supporting “anything anti-national”, saying that the two parties were the “first to support” the “anti-national” PFI after the ban was announced.
Anything anti national .. we have two parties who will support . GOP @INCIndia & Owaisi’s @aimim_national . It turned out to be true in case of #PFI Ban too . These two were the first to support this anti national organisation post the ban by Union Govt .
— B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) September 28, 2022
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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