National Development Front

Last updated

The National Development Front (NDF) was a Sunni Muslim organisation set up in Kerala. It was established in India in 1994.

Contents

History

Inspired by pan-Islamic movements across the country after 1992, the NDF gained a strong foothold in the Malabar region following the banning of the Organization of Islamic Servants (ISS). [1] The Kerala Police investigation found that the National Development Front (NDF) was another incarnation of the ISS. [2] The NDF actively promoted the claim of "representing the rights of Muslims" to win the confidence of Muslims. [3] [4]

The National Development Front has 19 Supreme Council members. Among them is Prof P. Koya who was also one of the founding members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI, the affiliate of Indian Mujahideen). [5]

In 1997, the NDF organized the National Human Rights Conference in Kozhikode. Based on deliberations and understanding, a new organization was formed called the Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (CHRO). [6] The NDF worked closely with Thejas journalist Mukundan C Menon and journalists affiliated with the CHRO by closely connecting with Human Rights Watch International. [7]

NDF Freedom Parade 2006 Kerala parade 1.jpg
NDF Freedom Parade 2006

The NDF organized parades with the slogan "Be the Sentinels of Islam" [8] in major cities of Kerala in 2004, 2005, [9] and in 2006. [10] The parade became one of the regular activities on the Indian Independence Day. [11]

The NDF is in alliance with the Popular Front of India and collaborated in the Empower India conference held in Bangalore in February 2007. [12]

In 2012, the NDF organized various communal movements, demonstrations, rallies and other strikes against police brutality and government misconduct, [13] claiming the right to work more in government employment. [14] Reservations and allowances were implemented for Muslims.

In 2021, the NDF was also involved in the hijab controversy in Kerala and Tamil Nadu by providing shelter, food and drink for those involved. [15]

Criticism

The NDF was accused of being a communal outfit and members of the organisation were implicated in violent incidents such as the 2002 2nd Marad massacre. [16] The Thomas P Joseph Commission report found that "activists of IUML and NDF, a Muslim outfit, were actively involved in the massacre". [17] The state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that NDF was involved in the Marad massacre and referred to them as a "terrorist outfit" that executed a "planned mass murder". [18] NDF was blamed for inciting violence against moderate Muslims in Kerala who are in opposition to liberal and reformist Islamic movements and individuals. [19] The "involvement of fundamentalists and terrorists" was behind the incident. [17] [19]

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put forward allegations that NDF maintains links with Pakistan's ISI. [20] The BJP sought an inquiry into NDF-ISI links. [21] The Indian National Congress raised doubts about the true nature of their activities. On 31 October 2006, the Congress launched a campaign against terrorism in Malappuram district in Kerala, simultaneously taking on parties and organisations such as the IUML, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the NDF, and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). [22]

Foreign connection

Ms Neera Rawat IPS, Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, deposed before the Marad Judicial Inquiry Commission of Justice Thomas P. Joseph. Her tenure as Kozhikode City Police Commissioner was from 22 March 1997 to 16 May 1999. She told the Inquiry Commission that the police had prepared confidential and authentic reports that ISI and Iran have funded the NDF. [23]

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Special Branch, Ernakulam, A.V. George, also deposed before the Marad inquiry panel on 29 October 2005, and stated that a key witness in an illegal arms possession case had given a statement to the police during its investigation that the NDF had been receiving crores of rupees from foreign countries to carry out its training programmes. ACP George quoted the testimony made by arrested NDF cadres that the NDF had been sending people to Pakistan for the last several years. [24]

Kottakkal Police station attack

Police accused that NDF activists attacked the Kottakkal police station at Kottakkal in Malappuram district in the early hours of 23 March 2007 following the arrest of two senior leaders of the front. The attack was repulsed by the police and 27 activists were taken into custody. [25]

Modus operandi

Frontline magazine quoted a senior police officer as saying that the NDF had successfully exploited the sense of insecurity created in the Muslim community by events that followed the Babri Masjid demolition to find supporters in northern Kerala, irrespective of their political or other allegiances. The report adds: "Initially, no NDF member used to acknowledge openly that he was an NDF member. They would always claim that they were members of other organisations. The truth may be that members of several organisations were members of the NDF also. Now the NDF has several wings and is making a major effort to project itself as a socio-cultural organisation of Muslims." [26]

Pakistan MP visit row

Pakistan MP Mohammed Thaha Mohammed's visit to Thalassery on 29 April 2007 sparked a controversy, with activists of the BJP and other Sangh Parivar groups staging a march to the hotel where Mohammed was staying. They claimed that leaders of a few Muslim organisations, including the NDF, were seen visiting the MP. [27]

Additional views

University of Haifa political scientist David Bukay lists the NDF as a "fundamentalist and subversive group". [28] After the 11 July 2006 Mumbai Train Bombings, the NDF, along with other Islamist organisations, was closely monitored by authorities for terrorist links. [29] The organisation attracted numerous Islamic Fundamentalists to their ranks, and are compared to several more well-known militant Islamist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and others. [30]

Implementation of religious code

The NDF is alleged to be involved in efforts to push the Islamic Sharia code among the moderate and cosmopolitan Muslim society in Kerala, an act viewed by moderate Muslims and secularists as Talibanization. NDF was accused of targeting liberals in the community – those who do not strictly follow Islamic laws like abstaining from liquor, fasting during Ramadan, and wearing the makhna or purdah. [31] The NDF has been linked to multiple murder cases, including that of a Muslim fakir known by the alias Siddhan for indulging in what they saw as "un-Islamic spiritualism" and of a Muslim man from Punalur for working for a leftist organisation. [32]

NDF's aggressive response to criticism

The NDF denied involvement in the Marad massacre. It alleged that the entire blame for the incident lay with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other "socialist Hindus". [33] He indirectly made an aggressive threat that "there will be trouble" if "any Muslim is caught by the police".they "welcomed the CBI investigation" into the Marad riots.The NDF criticised the media and officials for not supporting the militant outfit and portraying the BJP badly. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bajrang Dal</span> Hindu nationalist militant organisation

Bajrang Dal is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, and began spreading more in the 2010s throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.

The Sangh Parivar refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the political party Bharatiya Janata Party, religious organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad, students union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), religious militant organisation Bajrang Dal that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the worker's union Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. It is also often taken to include allied organisations such as the Shiv Sena, which share the ideology of the RSS.

The Students' Islamic Movement of India is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the "liberation of India" by converting it to an Islamic land, or Dār al-'Islām. The SIMI, an organisation of extremists has declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dār al-'Islām by converting everyone to Islam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in India</span>

Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the people of India. Compared to other countries, India faces a wide range of terror groups. Terrorism found in India includes Islamist terrorism, ultranationalist terrorism, and left-wing terrorism. India is one of the countries most impacted by terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kottakkal</span> Municipal town in Kerala, India

Kottakkal is a major municipal town in Malappuram district in Kerala, southern India having 32 wards. it is a part of Malappuram metropolitan area and a growing city in Kerala. The town is best known for the Arya Vaidya Sala, one of the top Ayurvedic health centres of the world. Kottakkal is also a major growing commercial, educational, and healthcare hub in South Malabar. The town lies on Mumbai–Kanyakumari National Highway 66.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaat-e-Islami Hind</span> Islamic organisation in India

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is an Islamic organisation in India, founded as an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which split into separate independent organisations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh following the Partition of India in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Gujarat riots</span> Sectarian violence in the Indian state

The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial riot incidents, there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months; statewide, there were further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population of Gujarat for the next year.

The Marad massacres were two incidences of religious violence that occurred in 2002 and 2003 at Marad Beach in Kerala, India. The 2002 incident led to five deaths; three Hindus and two Muslims were killed when scuffles that began as a trivial altercation over drinking water at a public tap became violent. Out of 393 people arrested, 62 were members of Indian Union Muslim League convicted for life imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Front of India</span> Banned Indian Muslim political organisation

Popular Front of India (PFI) is an Islamic political organisation in India, that engages in a radical and exclusivist style of Muslim minority politics. Formed to counter Hindutva groups, it was banned by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 28 September 2022 for a period of five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar</span> Grand Mufti of India

Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, is the tenth and current Grand Mufti of India. and General Secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama and General Secretary of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindu Munnani</span> Indian political party

Hindu Munnani is a right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Hindu Munnani was set up by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) The organisation was founded in 1980 by Ramagopalan, a member of RSS and since its formation served as the platform for RSS and its subsidiaries known as the Sangh Parivar.

Religious violence in India includes acts of violence by followers of one religious group against followers and institutions of another religious group, often in the form of rioting. Religious violence in India has generally involved Hindus and Muslims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Democratic Party of India</span> Indian political party

Social Democratic Party of India, popularly known as SDPI, is an radical Islamist, fundamentalist Indian political party founded on 21 June 2009 in New Delhi. It is the political wing of the Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI).

Love jihad is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory promoted by right-wing Hindutva activists. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning love, deception, kidnapping, and marriage, as part of a broader demographic "war" by Muslims against India, and an organised international conspiracy, for domination through demographic growth and replacement.

The assault on T. J. Joseph occurred on 4 July 2010. T. J. Joseph, a professor of Malayalam at Newman College, Thodupuzha, a Christian minority institution affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University had his wrist disarticulated on allegation of blasphemy, by members of Popular Front of India, an Islamic organisation in India. The then Minister of Home Affairs of Kerala, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, made a statement that while government is aware that there is a local Dar-ul Khada set up by the Popular Front of India under the supervision of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, functioning to resolve civil disputes, there were no complaints received that it was passing "Taliban-model" orders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kummanam Rajasekharan</span> Former Governor of Mizoram

Kummanam Rajasekharan is an Indian politician and former governor of Mizoram (2018–2019). He began his political career as an activist of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar in Kerala in 1970. From 2015 to 2018, he was the state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He is the first BJP leader from Kerala to become governor. He currently serves as the administrative committee member of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He actively contested for BJP in various Loksabha and assembly elections in Kerala.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naroda Patiya massacre</span> Massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots

The Naroda Patiya massacre took place on 28 February 2002 at Naroda, in Ahmedabad, India, during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 97 Muslims were killed by a mob of approximately 5,000 people, organised by the Bajrang Dal, a wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, and allegedly supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party which was in power in the Gujarat State Government. The massacre at Naroda occurred during the bandh (strike) called by Vishwa Hindu Parishad a day after the Godhra train burning. The riot lasted over 10 hours, during which the mob plundered, stabbed, sexually assaulted, gang-raped and burnt people individually and in groups. After the conflict, a curfew was imposed in the state and Indian Army troops were called in to contain further violence.

There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims since the partition of India in 1947, frequently in the form of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindu nationalist mobs that form a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Over 10,000 people have been killed in Hindu-Muslim communal violence since 1950 in 6,933 instances of communal violence between 1954 and 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadiya case</span> 2017–2018 Indian Supreme Court case

The Hadiya case was a 2017–2018 Indian Supreme Court case that affirmed the validity of the marriage of Hadiya and Shafin Jehan, which was challenged by Hadiya's family. Media outlets have described the underlying dispute as an allegation of "love jihad".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 in Kerala</span> List of events

Events in the year 2007 in Kerala

References

  1. ↑ "Rediff.com" . Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  2. ↑ IDSA Strategic Comments:: Is Kerala Emerging as India's New Terror Hub? :: Archived 12 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "NDF Minorities Campaign". The Hindu . 21 December 2005. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. ↑ CHRO Website [ dead link ]
  5. ↑ "A Professor Praises Terrorism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  6. ↑ NDF in ties with Confederation of Human Rights Organisations [ dead link ]
  7. ↑ HRW Report [ dead link ]
  8. ↑ "Be the sentinel of Islam". The Hindu . 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Islamic Parade 2005". Ndfindia.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "NDF Islamic Parade Report from". The Hindu . 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Indian Independence Day Activities in Kerala". The Hindu . 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  12. ↑ "Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections". The Hindu . 18 February 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  13. ↑ "Widespread protests against death sentence". The Hindu . 7 November 2006. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  14. ↑ "NDF to take out black march". Hinduonnet.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ↑ "Relief activities in progress". The Hindu . 29 December 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2004. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  16. ↑ R. Krishnakumar, Marad shocks, Frontline (magazine), Volume 23, Issue 20, 7–20 October 2006 accessed at "Marad shocks". Archived from the original on 12 January 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) 29 December 2006
  17. 1 2 "Marad massacre: Kerala govt for CBI probe". The Times of India. PTI. 27 September 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  18. ↑ UDF Slept As Marad Burned, by Aboo Backer, CPI(M) weekly
  19. 1 2 "The enemy within". Communalism Combat . March 1999. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  20. ↑ "BJP seeks inquiry into NDF-ISI links". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 20 May 2005. Archived from the original on 25 May 2005.
  21. ↑ The Hindu – 20 May 2005
  22. ↑ "Congress' anti-terrorism campaign in Malappuram". The Hindu . 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  23. ↑ "ISI, Iran funded NDF: Rawat". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 14 May 2005. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007.
  24. ↑ "NDF received aid from foreign countries". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 30 October 2005. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008.
  25. ↑ "NDF activists attack Kottakkal police station; 27 arrested". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 23 March 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008.
  26. ↑ "Hinduonnet.com". Hinduonnet.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  27. ↑ "Pakistan MP's visit to Kerala sparks row". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 29 April 2007. Archived from the original on 1 May 2007.
  28. ↑ Bukay, David (2004). Muhammad's Monsters: A Comprehensive Guide to Radical Islam for Western Audiences P177-178 . New Leaf Press. ISBN   0-89221-576-3. Evidence of these processes [preparation for large-scale acts of terror] is mounting throughout India, and is reflected in the number of fundamentalist and subversive groups that exist, and the geographical spread of their activities. The most prominent of these include the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the All India Milli Council, All India Jihad Committee, The People's Democratic Party, Muslim United Front, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham, National Development Front, Students Islamic Movement of India, among others
  29. ↑ "Police on alert after Mumbai blasts". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 18 July 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008.
  30. ↑ Ahamkaari (2003). "4". Will I Be Killed?: (for Writing the Following Contents. ..) P331. iUniverse. ISBN   0-595-27591-5. Kerala is witnessing more and more recruits into this extremist Islamic ideology". When the names are the alarming "Lashkar-e-Toiba" and "Hizbul Mujahiddeen" in the "uneducated North", it is very humorously garbed as "National Development Front" in the south"
  31. ↑ "[sacw] The Muslim Rightwing in Kerala". Insaf.net. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  32. ↑ Rajeev P I (16 March 2005). "Kerala's extremist outfit of many faces". The Indian Express. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  33. ↑ "NDF denies accusation in Marad massacre". Hinduonnet.com. 16 January 2002. Archived from the original on 16 August 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  34. ↑ "News from The Hindu". Hinduonnet.com. 16 January 2002. Archived from the original on 16 August 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.