KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday refrained from commenting on the ban on Popular Front of India (PFI), prompting the opposition BJP to question its silence on "issues related to national security".
The Centre on Wednesday announced the ban on PFI, a terrorist outfit and several of its associates for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), accusing them of having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS.
"We don't want to comment on it. It is our official stand that we won't comment on it," senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy said.
More than 150 people allegedly linked to PFI were detained or arrested in raids across seven states on Tuesday, five days after a similar pan-India crackdown against the 16-year-old group had led to the arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.
Reacting to TMC's silence, the West Bengal BJP unit wondered why Bengal's ruling party always preferred to maintain silence on issues related to national security.
"The BJP government has a zero-tolerance policy on terrorism and national security issues. But what bothers us most is the silence of the West Bengal government when there have been activities of PFI in the state too. However, the TMC has a track record of maintaining silence on issues related to national security. For them, votes matter most," BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
In a late Tuesday night notification, the union home ministry said some PFI founding members are leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and it has linkages with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations.