NSA Doval calls for countering radical forces, Muslim leaders seek PFI ban
In their resolution, the Muslim leaders demanded a ban on radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India. They also urged the Centre to stop social media being misused for spreading religious hatred.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said some elements were trying to create an atmosphere that is vitiating the progress of the country. He said that condemnation was not enough and there was a need to counter radical forces, including Popular Front of India and others. The Sufi clerics present at the meet called for a ban on PFI.
It may be remembered that the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, Amravati pharmacist Umesh Kolhe and Karnataka BJP worker Praveen Nettaru had links to the PFI.
“Organisations like PFI and any other such fronts, who have been indulging in anti-national activities, pursuing a divisive agenda and creating discord amongst our citizens must be banned and action initiated against them as per law of the land”, the resolution passed at the meeting read.
“Some people on basis of religious beliefs want to create discord impacts within and outside the society. The majority is silent . We can’t be mute spectators. We have to organise and raise voices, improve on the mistakes,” Doval said at the inter-faith meet in the national capital.
“They're creating acrimony & conflict in the name of religion & ideology, it's affecting the entire country while spilling over outside the country too,” Doval added.
“Instead of being mute spectators, we have to work on the ground on our differences along with strengthening our voices. We've to make every sect of India feel that we are a country together, we are proud of it & that every religion can be professed with freedom here,” the NSA added.
The delegates also urged the Narendra Modi government to curb the menace of social media being used to spread hate against religions and their followers. “Targeting gods/goddesses/prophet in discussions or debates by anyone should be condemned,” the resolution read.
The BJP-led government's initiative comes at a time when there is religious discord in the country in the wake of suspended saffron party leader Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks on the Prophet and the extreme reactions from a section of Sufi Barelvi Muslim community.
After protests by western Asian countries against Nupur Sharma's remark, the Narendra Modi government had suspended the BJP leader. However, protests broke out in various parts of the country with violence being reported in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The controversy took a gruesome turn after Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Rajasthan's Udaipur, was beheaded in an ISIS-style killing act by two Muslim men who filmed the murder and threatened to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both the killers along with their accomplices are in NIA custody.
