BSP chief Mayawati links PFI ban with upcoming assembly polls, calls it 'selfish move'

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has called the Centre’s move to impose a five-year ban on radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) and its sister organisations a ‘selfish political move’.

Days after the Centre imposed a five-year ban on the radical outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI), and its sister organisations, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati called the move a ‘selfish political move’ and linked it with the upcoming assembly polls.

Mayawati, in her tweet, linked the action to the upcoming state elections. She wrote, “After targeting the PFI in several ways, the central government has banned the organization and its eight associates ahead of the assembly elections. It has been called politics, which has made people restless instead of satisfying them."

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“That is why the opposition parties are alleging that the intention of the government is not clear, and they are also demanding a ban on the RSS. If PFI is a threat to national security, then why should several similar organisations not be banned, they are asking,” she said.

Other political leaders have also questioned the PFI ban. Her remarks come amid a war of words between Congress and the BJP over the ban on PFI in Karnataka. Former CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had demanded a ban on the RSS, accusing it of being a threat to peace in society and now Mayawati has also talked about banning the RSS through her tweet.

Speaking to India Today, UP Minister Dayashankar Singh hit back at Mayawati and said it was objectionable to compare the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with PFI because the social work which the government cannot do was being done by RSS. In this country, even in the social, and economic field, RSS worked for the national interest, so it is wrong to make such statements for politics.

"Better to think before than to make a statement about the politics of votes. The statements of Mayawati and her allies of the opposition are only for the benefit of one community. Those who are working to break society," he added.