EXTREMISM: ISLAMIST SDPI UNDER FIRE IN KERALA

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) political wing of Islamist Popular Front of India (PFI) has come under fire from various political and community organisations for its alleged extremist activities even as the Kerala Police on Wednesday arrested the prime accused in the case pertaining to the killing of M Abhimanyu, a 20-year-old activist of pro-CPI(M) student outfit SFI, at Maharaja’s College in Kochi on July 1.

Stating that political parties should be extremely cautious about the activities of the SDPI, State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said, “The SDPI is the Indian version of the Islamic State (ISIS). It is the RSS among Muslims.” He also said there should be efforts to find out whether SDPI activists had infiltrated into other political parties.

Kodiyeri’s remark was based on an Intelligence report that SDPI activists have infiltrated feeder outfits of his party and the Congress. The CPI(M) had initially rejected the Intelligence warning but, according to sources, the party leadership has already started examining the possibility of such infiltration by the Islamist outfit.

Terming the SDPI as an organisation that nurtures extremism in Kerala, senior Muslim League leader PK Kunhalikutty MP said it should be thrown out of the State. “The Muslim League is already carrying out a campaign against the SDPI. There should be joint campaigns against it,” he told the media in New Delhi.

Kunhalikutty alleged that the CPI(M) was still in alliance with the SDPI in several areas. “Though the CPI(M) keeps issuing statements against the SDPI, it has not given up its alliance with that organisation so far. The Marxists came to know of the real nature of the SDPI only after it hit at it,” he said referring to the murder of the SFI activist in Kochi.

Coming down heavily on the SDPI, Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliar said the Muslims had authorised that organisation to take to the streets in their name. “Some people are promoting extremism. Islam does not approve that. The Qur’an cannot inspire anyone to take to extremism. It speaks about religious amity,” he said.

The Popular Front, SDPI and their students’ wing Campus Front of India (CFI) have come under severe attack from various quarters in Kerala following the brutal killing of SFI activist Abhimanyu on the campus of Maharaja’s College in Kochi at July 1 midnight. All the accused in the case are activists of the SDPI and Campus Front.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Police on Wednesday arrested the prime accused in the case pertaining to the murder of Abhimanyu. According to sources, Muhammad Ali, president of the Campus Front unit in Maharaja’s College and its Alappuzha district president, was taken into custody from somewhere on the Kerala-Karnataka border where he was hiding.

According to police, Muhammad was responsible for the plot to kill Abhimanyu and it was he who had called the SDPI activists who unleashed terror on the campus that culminated in the murder. The police had got the information on Muhammad’s hideout from Aadil, another CFI activist held the other day. With this number of SDPI-CFI men held in case rose to ten.

SFI activist Abhimanyu, a second-year degree student of Maharaja’s College and a native of Vattavada in Idukki district, was stabbed to death allegedly by activists of SDPI and Campus Front at July 1 midnight amidst an SFI-Campus Front conflict over sticking posters. Abhimanyu was stabbed in the chest and the knife had pierced his heart causing instant death.

Police have identified the SDPI activist who had stabbed Abhimanyu. Muhammad has confirmed to the police that a dispute over sticking posters on the campus had led to the incident, sources said. He told them that SDPI activists had been camping in Kochi on the night of July 1 foreseeing possibility of a clash in the college.

Police said Muhammad had been directly involved in the murder of Abhimanyu. At least ten persons had been involved in the incident but only four had direct involvement in the killing and the others had assisted them in the crime, they said. Muhammad was held just when the police and the Government were under fire over the alleged failure in the probe into the killing.

Source:https://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/extremism-islamist-sdpi-under-fire-in-kerala.html