Guwahati: At least ten activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) have been arrested from Guwahati and other parts of the state, Assam Police said in an official statement on Thursday.
Police claimed they have been arrested “as there is reliable information that they were making all-out efforts to foment communal strife throughout the state of Assam.”
“The PFI leaders were indulging in whipping up the communal passion and sentiments of the religious minority by criticizing every policy of the government with communal overtones which include Citizenship Amendment Act. (CAA), NRC (National Register of Citizens) and ‘D’-Voter, the new state Education Policy, Cattle Protection Act., the extension of AFSPA, TET examination, Agnipath scheme, eviction of encroached government lands with a view to term these actions of the government as an attack on the Muslim community,” the statement added.
Police further claimed that the PFI leaders were also obstructing government servants in performing their official duties by use of force, while the organisation was trying to conduct several programmes in some districts of Assam by violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC
“The leaders had been extensively using Cyber Space to provoke the people for defying the government and to divide the society on religious lines and obstructing the government on the execution of policies. They were provoking the people against the government with the aim to spread mistrust among the public against the government,” the statement added.
According to the police, these leaders of PFI were also misleading and inciting the people against the government by taking up issues which occurred outside the state and mis-campaigning through social media platforms.
“These include highlighting arrests made in UP, Bihar, Delhi, challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict on HIJAB issue, Bilkis Bano issue, court verdict on the Gyanvapi mosque, criticising the Supreme Court verdict on the Ram Janambhoomi –Babri Masjid issue, abrogation of Art 370 of the Constitution of India. They are organizing protests on such issues in very communally sensitive areas like Badarpur, Karimganj, Barpeta, Baksa, Kamrup(R), Goalpara and Kamrup(M) districts,” police said.
Assam police further claimed that these leaders were also trying to spread communal feelings in Muslim-dominated pockets of Barpeta, Goalpara, Badarpur by whipping their sentiments on the issue of communal violence, Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti that took place in Rajasthan.