Kannur: Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Committee member MV Jayarajan on Saturday said the dawn-to-dusk hartal observed by Popular Front of India (PFI) was of a “terrorist nature”.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported during Friday’s hartal called by the radical outfit which instigated violent protests in several places, he added.
“The PFI/SDPI activists hurled petrol bombs on RSS office in Mattanur and also forcibly tried to shutdown shops there. At the same time, Yuva Morcha workers also threatened people against the closure of their shops. The video clippings of both the incidents are now available on social media,” the CPI(M) Kannur district secretary said.
“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids in PFI offices and arrested its leaders on the basis of intelligence inputs received by them over PFI’s anti-national activities (on Thursday). All these details were mentioned in the NIA’s remand report in the court,” Jayarajan told the media.
“According to the report, the PFI tried to establish an Islamic nation. It is similar to the RSS agenda of establishing a Hindu nation. Both are dangerous to the nation. We need a country having human face,” he said.
On Friday, the Kerala High Court, which banned the shutdown in the state, also termed the flash hartal called by the Popular Front of India (PFI) as “illegal and unconstitutional”, and initiated suo motu proceedings against the PFI leaders.
The court directed the Pinarayi Vijayan government to take stringent action against the agitators, violating the court order and the fundamental rights of the people.
“The flash hartal called by the PFI violated the previous court order dated January 7, 2019, attracting the contempt of the court. It is mandatory that 7-days prior notice for declaring hartal,” the court observed.
The PFI called for a state-wide flash shutdown on Friday after the Thursday’s arrest of its leaders by the NIA during its raids.
The court said the PFI State General Secretary and its State Committee are responsible for the illegal act.
The court has directed the police to furnish details of damages to public and private properties due to the hartal for initiating further procedure and register cases if necessary.
