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What the PFI ban implies for the Karnataka BJP’s chances in the next elections: “Major relief, diversion from PayCM”
According to a senior leader, the BJP will use the central government's "severe action" against the Popular Front of India as one of its primary political platforms for the state assembly elections next year.
The Popular Front of India (PFI) ban announced by the Union government on Wednesday has been hailed as a “major relief” by the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka, primarily because the state chapter of the party is confident that it will help divert attention from the controversy surrounding the “PayCM” campaign launched by the Congress in the state.
In some areas of Bengaluru last week, posters with the slogan “PayCM” and CM Bommai’s picture appeared, accusing the BJP administration of engaging in corruption.
In order to win the state assembly election next year, the BJP would reportedly make the federal government’s “severe action” against the PFI one of its main election platforms, according to a top BJP politician from Karnataka.
The ban is also anticipated to improve Bommai’s reputation, who has been under scrutiny for alleged corruption from both the opposition and his own party members in the wake of the slaying of BJP youth activist Praveen Nettaru in July.
Pralhad Joshi, a minister in the Union, said that the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a political arm of the PFI, was involved in the murder. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the investigation and conducted raids on the organisation and its affiliates after the state police made the arrests and established the accused’s connection to the PFI.
The murder of Nettaru in the BJP stronghold of Dakshina Kannada had caused some party cadre to doubt the state’s handling of the PFI and put a lot of strain on the Karnataka government.
With a focus on “how the previous regime under the Congress was pro-PFI,” the senior BJP leader quoted above claims that the ban on the PFI now reflects the “political will” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and Bommai and will be disseminated throughout the state by its cadre.
“This ban is an aspiration of the people, and the BJP is a party that fulfils the aspirations of the people. The demand to ban them has been raised many times in the past, but the former chief minister (Siddaramaiah) and the Congress leadership kept quiet. This ban shows that our government takes internal security as seriously as external,” said the leader.
“The PayCM campaign has already been blunted as the BJP has been raising the issue of the pro-PFI approach of the Congress. Internal security is an important issue and it will resonate among the masses. In fact, the demand for a ban has come from the public itself,” he added.
The NIA and other state police forces, including Karnataka’s, conducted widespread raids on the organisation and its affiliates before the PFI was shut down.
Four murder cases of Hindutva activists from Karnataka are mentioned in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification designating the PFI and eight affiliate organisations as “unlawful associations” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Members of the PFI and its affiliate organisations are accused in these cases.
Reacting to the ban, PFI Tamil Nadu president Mohamed Shaik Ansari said: “It has been announced that the Popular Front of India has been banned in India. This illegal and undemocratic ban will be challenged legally by us. Following the ban, the organisation will stop all activities that it had been carrying out in the state.”
“Anti-national groups won’t last long”
J.P. Nadda, the head of the BJP, charged the Congress with planning to use PFI to divide society in April of this year while speaking to a crowd in Hospet, Karnataka. Nadda specifically charged Siddaramaiah with dropping charges against the group.
In the context of the PFI deciding to contest the ban in court, a second senior BJP functionary said: “A methodical exercise has been done to consolidate the evidence of unlawful activities of the PFI. In case they go to court, they will not be able to get any relief, and we have enough evidence against them.”
“More than 23 Hindus have been killed under the (erstwhile) Siddaramaiah government, and he simply took no action. Karnataka was becoming a hub of terrorists and Bommai ji decided to hand over the cases to the NIA for better results, and it [the ban] has happened. They can launch a ‘PayCM’ campaign but the public knows he (Bommai) is the common man’s CM, and it is this we are going to highlight in our election campaign,” said a third BJP leader.
In an effort to seize control of the state from the BJP, the Congress has been accusing Bommai’s government of corruption.
Posters for the PayCM campaign of the opposition party have QR codes. After scanning them, the user is taken to 40percentsarkara.com, a website the Congress developed as part of its polling campaign.
While praising the PFI’s suspension for alleged terrorist operations, Bommai stated the action sends a message to other “anti-national groups” that “they will not survive in our country.”
“With a lot of background work, information, and cases, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah has taken the right decision. This is the message for all anti-national groups, that they will not survive in this country. I also urge people not to associate with such organisations,” he told reporters.
B.L. Santhosh, a leader from Karnataka and national general secretary of the BJP, claimed in a tweet on Wednesday that the Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) were the “first to endorse” the “anti-national” PFI after the ban was imposed.
