The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) awarded ‘Y’ category protection to five Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) officials from Kerala on Saturday, following a warning from central intelligence services about possible danger from the now-banned extremist terrorist organization named the Popular Front of India (PFI).
According to reports, following the Union government’s decision to outlaw PFI, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) notified the MHA of a probable threat to five of the Kerala-based RSS leaders. The MHA then decided to grant ‘Y’ category protection to five RSS leaders based on a report from the NIA and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Paramilitary commandos would be sent to secure the RSS leaders’ safety.
Centre accords Y category security cover to five RSS leaders in Kerala in view of possible threats to them: Official sources
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 1, 2022
During its inspections, the NIA discovered a list from Kerala PFI member named Mohammed Basheer’s home. The list contained the names of five RSS officials who were purportedly on the PFI radar. Reportedly, 11 people (five for static duty and six for personal protection) will operate in several shifts to provide security to the leaders.
The RSS and its member have always been the fresh targets of PFI. We can’t forget how the PFI goons brutally murdered several RSS workers from the state of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka in past few years. Sanjith, an RSS worker in Kerala, was murdered by PFI cadres in November 2021. In Tamil Nadu, Hindu leader V Ramalingam was murdered for challenging Islamic Dawah activities in 2019. Other prominent cases of murder of Hindu leaders by the cadres of the outfit include Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Karnataka, 2017), R Rudresh (Karnataka, 2016), Praveen Poojari (Karnataka, 2016) and Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016).
Recently, amid the two NIA rounds of raids on PFI, the terrorist organization happened to hurl petrol bombs RSS office in Mattannur. Also, the Maharashtra ATS on September 26 confirmed that the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and several top BJP leaders were on the radar of the PFI.
The Central Government on September 27 banned the radical organization named Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associate organizations for 5 years. The government maintained that the organizations operated as unlawful associations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The affiliations banned along with the PFI include All India Imams Council, Campus Front of India (CFI), Rehab India Foundation, National Conf of Human Rights Org, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation, and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
The ban on the PFI comes following two rounds of searches by the NIA in a multi-agency investigation against the organisation for allegedly sponsoring terror operations in the nation. The initial series of raids occurred on September 22, with a follow-up on Tuesday, September 27 in multiple states, resulting in the arrest of at least 250 persons associated with PFI.
