West Bengal Police denies permission for PFI rally, TMC MP says 'not aware of any rally'

The Popular Front of India (PFI) sought permission to take out a rally against the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on January 5. PFI, through its posters, claimed that they had invited Trinamool Congress MP of Murshidabad, Abu Taher Khan to be a part of the rally. However, West Bengal Police denied them any permission to hold any rally on January 5. 

Read: Javed Akhtar Negates Mohsin Raza’s Remark on Alleged PFI Role In Anti-CAA Violence In UP

'Have no knowledge about this event' 

Hasibul Islam, spokesperson of the PFI in Murshidabad said, "We are organizing a protest on January 5 against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Murshidabad. (TMC) MP Abu Taher Khan will also be a part of the protest and he has been invited."

The invitation has created a political controversy in Bengal although the TMC MP from Murshidabad has stated that he does not have any information whatsoever on the invitation or the rally by PFI on Sunday. 

"I have no knowledge about this event. If they have mentioned my name in their poster, I can not do anything about it," claimed Abu Taher Khan. The PFI was set up in 2006 as a federation of the National Development Fund (NDF), which was formed in Kerala in 1993 and subsequently emerged as the Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) in Karnataka. 

Read: ''PFI Brainwashed Muslims'', Says Mohsin Raza On PFI's Role In Anti-CAA Violence In UP

PFI-SIMI links

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had recently sent a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) requesting a ban on the PFI. The government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has accused the organization and its political front, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) of masterminding and instigating violence during the recent protests against the CAA and the proposed NRC. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had claimed that PFI was the incarnation of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Read: 'UP Govt Will Clamp Down Perpetrators Of Violence':Dy CM On SDPI-PFI Role In Anti-CAA Stir

Aims of PFI

SIMI is a banned organization that is accused of the propagation of Islamist jihad and the establishment of Islamic rule in India. The PFI claims on its website that it aims to move towards the achievement of socio-economic, cultural and political empowerment of the deprived and the downtrodden and the nation at large and puts forward its disapproval of the ruling establishment which, it said, has empowered the big business houses and the urban and rural elite, as it ignored the basic needs of the people below. It calls itself a socio-political movement that strives for the empowerment of the Muslims and other marginalised sections of society.

Read: REPUBLIC INVESTIGATION PART 1: PFI Started Planning Earlier This Year