Popular Front of India rallies against Centre's witch-hunt'

Thiruvananthapuram: Over 1.5 lakh people reportedly took part in the rally organized by the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday causing a traffic jam in the city. The name of the rally “Njangalkkum Parayaunnudu”(We too have something to say) was organized against the alleged “villianisation of the organisation by Central Government agencies and the Sangh Parivar at a time when there are strong rumours that the central government was planning to ban the organisation.

According to reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs has claimed that the PFI is indulging in actions detrimental to the overall national security of India and investigators have accused PFI of having links with radical Islamic groups. The reports also suggested that the outfit was under the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged terror links. Though, police intelligence sources put the number of people attending the rally at 50,000, unofficial figures put it at three times that number.

There were allegations that the rally had attacked the media vehicle of the pro-RSS Malayalam Janam TV. However, there were no injuries reported in the incident. Moreover, only the driver was in the vehicle. The public meeting held at Putharikkandam Maidan after the rally was attended by national and state leaders of the PFI, politicians belonging to other parties, social workers and human rights activists.