Kerala: CPI(M), Cong not in favour of banning PFI

Amidst reports of the Centre planning to ban Popular Front of India (PFI), both the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition Congress in Kerala are not in favour of banning the outfit.

While CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan stated that the party is not in favour of banning extremist outfits as it may aggravate and strengthen them, Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress asked if the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) helped in curbing minority extremism.

Both CPI(M) and Congress in Kerala accuse each other of seeking support of communal outfits for electoral gains.

Read | More than 200 alleged PFI activists held in raids across six states

Govindan said at a public meeting that extremist activities could not be curbed by banning one form of extremist outfit. It would only aggravate and strengthen extremism.

The Congress in Kerala is yet to take a clear stand on moves to ban PFI. Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that it needed to be discussed whether banning an organisation was the remedy to curb extremism, especially by reviewing whether the ban on SIMI helped in curbing minority extremism. He alleged that PFI and RSS were two sides of the same coin and both the minority communalism and majority communalism were feeding each other.

Satheesan said that the Congress took an open stand in the recent Assembly by-poll that it did not want the support of either minority communalism or majority communalism.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) polit bureau and Kerala state secretariat rejected BJP president J P Nadda's statement that Kerala became a hotspot of terrorism. The CPI(M) government in Kerala is taking firm actions against violent activities of all communal outfits like the PFI and the RSS. Kerala witnessed a series of killing by workers of RSS and PFI. The BJP president should advise RSS to keep off from activities causing communal provocation, said a statement from the polit buro.