Islamist Outfit PFI Joins Hands With Maoist-Linked Groups To Target ‘Hindutva’ Government In Jharkhand

Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), which is accused of having links with terror groups, has joined hands with organisations linked to Maoists to target the ‘Hindutva’ government in Jharkhand, My Nation has reported.

According to a report by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), PFI secretary Rona Wilson, who was recently arrested, met officials and ministers in Jharkhand along with a woman identified as Vasantha Kumari, asking them to lift the ban imposed on the PFI and Maoist affiliate, Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS).

"There is a growing convergence between Maoist affiliates and the PFI following bans imposed by Jharkhand on the Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti/MSS, CPI-Maoist front and PFI. Consequently, both aides have echoed each others' causes and in the process, targeted the 'Hindutva' state government," the report sent by the MHA to the Jharkhand government reads.

"On the Maoist side, reliable inputs indicate that Anjani Kumar Mal played a significant role in helping lawyers representing PFI build bridges with MSS lawyers in the Jharkhand High Court. Earlier, individuals linked with Maoist affiliates, including Rona Wilson (secretary, Committee for Release of Political Prisoners) and Vasantha Kumari (member, Committee for Defence and Release of GN Saibaba) called on the Jharkhand government to lift the ban on the PFI. Separately, People's Union for Democratic Rights, a pro-Maoist organisation, had demanded revocation of the ban," the MHA said in its report.

The MHA report says that the convergence between the Maoists and PFI is not new and that the two have come together in the past.

"In the past, convergence between Maoist affiliates and the PFI/NCHRO was witnessed in Kerala in the aftermath of the killing (24 November, 2016) of two senior Maoist leaders in district Malappuram,’ the report claims.

The Home ministry has asked the government of Jharkhand to monitor the activities of the two groups closely. The state government had banned PFI, formed as a successor to the National Development Front, in February.