Malappuram: The Popular Front of India (PFI) said on Tuesday that it will take legal action against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kerala frontman MT Ramesh for his statements alleging that the Kerala-based political outfit had paid money to further instigate protests against the citizenship law.
Ramesh, the party's state general secretary and one of the leading candidates for its presidential post, said on Thursday that PFI is using “benamis” to enflame the riots by paying them.
PFI president Nasarudeen Elamaran said that the outfit will seek legal action against MT Ramesh for his statements.
Recently, there have also been reports quoting an Enforcement Directorate (ED) report that PFI had mobilised Rs 120 crores to amplify the protests against the recent amendments to the citizenship act. According to an Economic Times report, ED was investigating the Kerala-based political outfit under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2018.
Supreme Court lawyers Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and Kapil Sibal too were alleged to have received money, Times Now reported.
However, PFI has condemned the news reports and dubbed the allegations "baseless".
The recent amendments to the citizenship law make it easier for the non-Muslim immigrants from India's three Muslim-majority neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – to become citizens of India.
Protests have been raging across the country against the exclusion of people on the grounds of their religion, considered to be against the ethos of the constitution. While several others, especially those in the northeastern states of the country, are demanding the withdrawal of the law in its entirety.
In Kerala, a 620-km-long human chain from its northern end to the south was formed on Republic Day, by the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), demanding the withdrawal of the contentious Act. Many parties, including the PFI, have shed their ideological differences and have lent their support against the divisive law.
(With inputs from agencies)
