As frequent communal tensions – over the ban on hijab in educational institutions and on non-Hindu shop owners in temple fairs – stifle Karnataka, the state police is silently working on a dossier detailing the activities of Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamic outfit. According to top police officials of the state, the probe could help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka to push for a ban on the outfit.
PFI was born in 2006, and is the parent organisation of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Its student outfit Campus Front of India (CFI) has substantial presence in colleges across the state.
A PFI national event.
A senior Karnataka police official, well aware of the probe, told The Quint, “We have been collecting details of PFI’s activities. While the exercise started ten years ago, recently there has been growing interest in the organisation.” He added, “Probes on the organisation’s activities are underway in several districts. We will be submitting our findings to the state government. The government could then decide whether the organisation should be banned.” The police will not directly recommend a ban on the outfit, he clarified.
Since February this year, a section of Hindu outfits and the members of the ruling BJP government have been demanding a ban on the outfit. Popular Front of India took shape from National Development Front (NDF), which was born in 1994.
Following the demand for a ban, PFI and SDPI have been feeling the heat on all fronts.
Checks on the Rise
In the last week of March, municipal authorities tore down Zaitoon, a landmark restaurant in Udupi town. The restaurant owner was Nazeer Ahmed, SDPI's Udupi district president.
While the Udupi corporation authorities told The Quint that Zaitoon was an illegal structure, Ahmed accused the district administration of acting on political vendetta. "We did not face any problems till recently. Only after I spoke against hijab ban in colleges did the administration wake up. The authorities moved urgently to demolish the structure," Ahmed alleges.
PFI and SDPI had observed a bandh on 17 March, condemning Karnataka High Court's verdict that banned hijab in educational institutions in the state.
A PFI gathering
Ahmed's claim, to an extent, holds water, as Udupi district police started a fresh probe into PFI and SDPI's revenue sources in February. A senior police official of Udupi told The Quint, "Three rowdy-sheeters were arrested for carrying weapons from near a college in Kundapur, where hijab protests were going on. We have reasons to believe that they had links with PFI."
The police, however, have not found whether the accused 'rowdies' acted on behalf of the outfit.
Though Udupi police are grappling with PFI's allegedly dubious activities, in Shivamogga, the police claim to have found clear links that connect the outfit with the murder of a Bajrang Dal member, Harsha Jingade.
Harsha Case: 'UAPA Invoked, NIA Alerted to Probe PFI Links'
While the police first suspected gang related rivalry between the victim and the 10 accused persons who were arrested in connection with the case that rocked the district in early March, PFI's hand in the murder is "getting clearer by the day," a police official told The Quint.
"We invoked UAPA in the case because of suspected links between the accused and PFI. The case is now transferred to National Investigation Agency for the same reason. We suspect a larger conspiracy," the senior Karnataka police official said.
What have the police found to raise such strong suspicion?
A 26-year-old Bajrang Dal member named Harsha was allegedly murdered late on Sunday, 20 February, in Karnataka’s Shivamogga.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
While Harsha Jingade was hacked to death on 20 February, the state's intelligence wing has narrowed down on a meeting which the three of the accused held with PFI leaders in the first week of February. "We suspect they hatched the plan to commit the murder during this meeting," the Shivamogga police officer said. It is not know whether meeting was coincidental.
The police have been tracking financial transactions of the accused to get more leads on the 'supari' (contract) killing. Did the police not consider an altercation that Harsha Jingade had with the accused, on the premises of a sessions court in Shivamogga, before narrowing down on a PFI link? "The rivalry was clearly on religious grounds. Harsha was marked because he was an active Bajrang Dal member who had even gathered support for 'saffron shawl' protests," the Shivamogga police officer said.
However, more than Harsha murder case, it is hijab row that seems to have attracted the police's attention to PFI.
PFI's state spokesperson, Mohammed Shakif rubbished the claims stating, "Our cadre is disciplined. In our history, you cannot find even a single case violence or even stone pelting."
Alleged Links: 'DJ Halli and KG Halli Cases to Hijab Row'
The most recent case in which PFI and SDPI were probed was east Bengaluru riots of August 2020.
Riots broke out after an inflammatory social media post, linked back to a Congress MLA's relative, spurred tension. A mob attacked DJ Halli police station and in the police firing that ensued two persons were killed.
In the case, which was handed over to NIA, two local leaders of SDPI, Muzamil Pasha and Tabrez, were arrested.
They are now accused of instigating members of PFI to attack the DJ Halli police station. In the riots that lasted for a day, rioters had set private vehicles and public property ablaze. The riots also spread to parts of KG Halli. The state police and NIA have been probing the role of both PFI and SDPI in the case.
"In effect there is no difference between PFI and SDPI. Both outfits work in tandem. In the case of the hijab protests, PFI initiated the protest which happened in Udupi," a Karnataka top cop said, accusing the outfits of staging sporadic protests in support of hijab across the state. In Udupi, however, both, the Bajrang Dal and the RSS affiliated Hindu Jagarana Vedike had supported the 'saffron shawl' protests that led to a ban on hijab in several educational institutions across the state.
The police, however, have not probed Hindu rightwing outfits' role in creating communal tension in the state.
Karnataka police have been actively probing the funding for 'pro-hijab protests' and PFI's contribution. "The outfits got top lawyers to appear for the petitioners in the High Court. Why shouldn't their funding be probed?" a senior police officer asked. So far, the police have not unearthed the "source of funding," he said.
In Udupi, BJP MLA Raghupathi Bhat has been vociferously demanding PFI ban.
Political Pressure Behind Probe on PFI?
In February this year, as Hindu right wing outfits demanded a ban on PFI, Indian National Congress which is in the Opposition in Karnataka demanded that the outfit be banned. The BJP has been promoting the outfit, at the expense of Congress, leader Siddaramaiah alleged.
Several BJP politicians too have been asking the government to outlaw PFI. "The outfit is creating tension in coastal Karnataka," BJP's Bhat told The Quint.
With both ends of the political spectrum in Karnataka demanding a ban on the outfit, will the state government succumb this time? PFI's Shakib said, "As an outfit we have been unequivocally standing up for fundamental rights. We are against fascists. So there will be attempt to curb our dynamic organisation."
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