Popular Front of India

Popular Front of India
Abbreviation	PFI
Motto	Naya Karavan : Naya Hindustan
Formation	22/11/2006
Type	Voluntary Organisation
Purpose/focus	Non-profit (minority development)
Headquarters	Delhi (Head Quarters) G-66, 2nd Floor, Shaheen Bagh Kalindikunj, Noida Road, New Delhi – 110025, Tel/ Fax – 011 29945003
Region served	India
Official languages	Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Meitei, Telugu
Chairman of the Front	E M Abdur Rahman
Main organ	State Presidents
Website	http://popularfrontindia.com

The Popular Front of India (PFI) is a confederation of Muslim organizations in India, including National Development Front, Manitha Neethi Pasarai and Karnataka Forum for Dignity etc. The PFI has about 80,000 members all over the country and claims to advocate for minority and underprivileged groups in India holding demonstrations and marches and denies having links to Islamic terrorist groups.

Accusations have been made that the PFI has links with terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Al Qaeda but these allegations have yet to be proven.

Background

Formed on November 22, 2006 the Popular Front of Inda was 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. The groups came together with the stated intention of supporting underprivileged and marginalized segments of society, such as dalits, the lower classes, and minority communities. A common platform was formed in cooperation with the South India Council as an outcome of a regional discussion attended by Muslim social activists and intellectuals from the South Indian States at Bangalore on the 25th and 26 January 2004. The South India Council has taken up various issues related to community empowerment, especially reservation in education? and employment and in cooperation with the Confederation of Muslim Institutions in India and organized a two-day workshop on Muslim Reservations on the 26th and 27 November 2005 at Hyderabad, inaugurated by Rajya Sabha member Rahman Khan. The slogan of the PFI is Naya Karavan: Naya Hindustan, which means "The new traveling way and the new India".

Objective

marginalized sections and to work for their empowerment. The Popular Front of India declares that they move towards coordination and management of such efforts for the achievement of socioeconomic, cultural and political empowerment of the deprived and the downtrodden and the nation at large. It seeks to establish an egalitarian society in which freedom, justice and security are enjoyed by all.

Confederation 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)

It is felt that if these three independent state-level organizations were to 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 as well. 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 in 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Popular Front of India declared that it will confine its activities to the South Indian states and presently this federation includes KFD, NDF and MNP.

Other organizations in the confederation include:

• 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

History

The PFI started in Kerala as successor to National Development Front in 2006. Later it merged with Karnataka Forum for Dignity of Karnataka and Manitha Neethi Pasarai in Tamil Nadu and later in 2009, with Goa's Citizen's Forum, Rajasthan's Community Social and Educational Society, West Bengal's Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Samiti, Manipur's Lilong Social Forum and Andhra Pradesh’s Association of Social Justice. It has been identified as having many fronts and is dealing with issues such as Muslim reservations, personal law courts for Muslims, cause of Dalits & tribals, scholarships for deprived Muslim students, etc.

Social actions

Education and employment

The PFI conducts School Chalo ("Go To School") program each year during June and July when schools are open, conducting awareness programs to help disadvantaged children attend secondary school.

Demonstrations and rallies are conducted by the Popular Front of India to make as many people as possible aware about their rights to an education and employment. Caravans and awareness campaigns in cities such as Kokata are also conducted. KM Shareef, the National General Secretary of PFI has asserted that reservation is the most immediate need of Muslims, referencing a report submitted by the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (Justice Rajindar Sachchar Committee) in November 2006, which identified the Muslim community as more backward than any other, and claimed that insufficient discussion on this topic were taking place in assemblies and parliaments. In the context of the Central Government's decision on reservation in higher education, the South India Council organized three Regional Conventions on Reservation: in Calcuta on 4 August 2006, in Bangalore on 5 August 2006, and in 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 Former Prime Minister V. P. Singh and Union Minister Oscar Fernandez. In 2010, the National Executive Council of the PFI demanded a ten percent reservation for Muslims across India.

Protests against police misconduct

The PFI has held protests alleging misconduct by police against women and other minorities, such as beatings and fabrication of evidence.

Health awareness programs

In November 2009 the PFI conducted health awareness programs, including demonstrations on disease prevention, environmental protection, nutrition, the benefits of yoga and exercise, and cleanliness.

Protest against the judiciary

In 2010, PFI representatives held a demonstration protesting the sentencing in the trial resulting from the Bhopal disaster. The president of the PFI, Mohammed Tahir, claimed the verdict reflects a general insensitivity in the judiciary towards the "common masses."

Rescue operations

Popular Front volunteers participated in rescue and relief operations in floods that struck north Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Assam where there was large-scale devastation and loss to life and property. During a rescue operation, a 50-year-old volunteer named Salahuddin lost his life in the Kurnool district. Thousands of packets of food were distributed and many public facilities and educational institutes were cleaned by the volunteers. During the Mangalore plane crash 22 May 2010, Popular Front volunteers involved themselves in the rescue operations jointly with police and firemen in hospitals and other rescue sites. They also worked with expatriates to help families of Mangalore air crash victims with help lines and other support.Imtiyaz,District secretary of Popular Front of India, said that Popular Front workers worked in team during rescue operation. Teams worked in Venlock, Yenappoya and Colaso hospitals. Popular Front members reached to spot at early morning as soon disaster occurred, before firemen come and worked until rescue operation ends, he added.

He said that one of Popular Front member had been injured during rescue operation and admitted to AJ Hospital

Role of Reservation for Minorities

Popular Front of India with the cooperation of Confederation of Muslim Institutions in India organized a two day Workshop on Muslim Reservation on 26th & 27th 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 4th August 2006, at Bangalore on 5th August 2006, and at Chennai on 17th 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 29th 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. 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) (Karnataka State) National Development Front (NDF) (Kerala State) Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) (Tamilnadu State) When the tsunami wiped out many of the houses and facilities at the end of 2005, the volunteers were actively involved in helping the sufferers of tsunami victims of Kerala and Tamil Nadu with other organizations and government agencies.

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 150,000 people. In the conference, one of the main guests, Alan Hart, British journalist specialising in West-Asian affairs, said that he had unlearned 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 saw the merger of social organizations in eight states into the Popular Front of India. Along with the state presidents of NDF Kerala, MNP Tamil Nadu and KFD Karnataka which had 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.

Freedom Parade on Indian Independence Day

Popular front of India Freedom Parade 2010

The PFI and its allies conduct a freedom parade on August 15 of every year in celebration of Indian Independence Day with a slogan Be the sentinel of freedom. The national flag is carried in front of the parade by volunteers, and orchestra bands that play patriotic songs are an added attraction to the parade. The parade is followed by public meeting with participation from the public including woman. In 2010, the parade was conducted in Uduppi and Mettuppalayam. In the previous years it was conducted in other South Indian cities like Mangalapuram and Madurai.

In the 2010 parade in Mettupalayam the keynote address was given by O.M.A Salam, the National Secretary of the PFI. In his speech he said, "This Indian Independence Day is the right time to renew our determination to protect the freedom of our beloved country. Once we all Indians united and fought against British colonial forces. Then we achieved the freedom. But now the Independence of India is under threat."

Poster - Social Justice Conference

Social Justice conference 2011

The Social Justice Conference that calls to "Build the Nation on Justice" will be held at Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on 26 and 27 November 2011. It is organized by Popular Front of India which is a neo-social movement which strives for the empowerment of the weaker sections and marginalized communities with grass root level networking in many states of India. The Conference will be a get together of like minded organizations and movements which strive for the common goals.The first day of the conference will have two separate seminar session on the topics ‘Together for Empowerment’ and ‘People’s Right to Justice’. The second day will witness a large flow of masses to the Grand Public MeetingThe conferernce was addressed by Syed Shahabuddin, a former MP and Mulayam Singh Yadav the Samajwadi party leader. The key address of the conference was to plea teh UPA government to implement the findings of Sachar Committee Report and the Ranganath Misra Commission

Allegations of involvement in violence

Attack on T. J. Joseph

Main article: Attack on T. J. Joseph

On July 4, 2010, two PFI activists were arrested in conjunction with an incident in which they allegedly chopped the hand off of a Kerala professor who had allegedly offended the religious sentiments of his students. At the time of the attack, Joseph was coming back from his duties at a private Christian college in Muvattapuzha and had been accused of blasphemy. The Kerala state police claimed to be "unearthing the vast network" of the PFI, and after a series of raids on the houses of PFI members, the district secretary of the PFI "threatened the officer with dire consequences if he continued raiding the houses of its activists." On July 9, 2010, it was reported that PFI installations were being raided by police, and that they had found propaganda videos from the global Islamic network al-Qaeda in the possession of one alleged PFI member, and a rifle, fake SIM cards, and fake identity cards in the possession of another member of the PFI. As a result of the incident, the BJP has called for a ban on the PFI and an examinations of possible links between the PFI and the Taliban by the National Investigation Agency. On September 6, 2010, the Kerala Government informed the state high court that investigators thus far found no evidence of a connection between the Popular Front of India with Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e Taiba (Let) or al-Qaeda.

Allegations of love jihad

In the fall of 2009, Christian and Hindu groups accused the PFI of promoting a love jihad, in which young men were allegedly enticing women to convert to Islam The Kerala High Court asked the state police to investigate allegations. In late 2009, the Karnataka CID (Criminal Investigation Department) reported that although it was continuing to investigate, it had found no evidence that a "Love Jihad" existed. In late 2009, Director-General of Police Jacob Punnoose reported that although the investigation would continue, there was no evidence of any organisation using men "feigning love" to lure your women to convert to Islam. In early 2010, the state government reported to the Karnataka High Court that although a large number of young Hindu women had converted to Islam, there was no organized attempt to convince them to do so. In the summer of 2010, Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achutanandan claimed the PFI has plans to Islamize Kerala over a 20-year-period by influencing "youth of other religions and converting them by giving money, marrying them to Muslim women and thus producing kids of the community.” PFI state unit president Nasaruddeen Elamaram responded by claiming that the charges were baseless and that religious conversion is not a crime, and BJP Mahila Morcha leader Sobha Surendran responded with doubts as to the chief minister's sincerity.

The Kerala High Court closed the 'Love Jihad' case on Dec 2, 2010. In an affidavit presented to the court, the Director General of Police stated there was no movement called ‘Love Jihad' operating in the State. Justice M. Sasidharan Nambiar disposed of a petition filed by Shahansha and Sirajudheen seeking to quash the criminal cases registered against them in connection with the abduction of two women studying for MBA.

External links

• Popular Front Of India
• Thejas Newspaper
• Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections, The Hindu, Feb 18, 2007
• Video summarizing the Empower India Conference [2]

Achu 08:10, 20 October 2011 (UTC)