In the early hours of September 22, when a joint team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Delhi Police raided a flat in Shaheen Bagh in southeast Delhi, it first removed a huge iron board erected outside. The green-and-white board, on which ‘Popular Front of India’ (PFI) was painted in bold letters, would have made it easy for people to gather at the building, said Shahnawaz Khan, a real estate agent who was present when the raids took place.
A countrywide operation
The raid was not restricted to the Delhi headquarters of the PFI, located in rented accommodation on the ground floor of the building in the congested area of Shaheen Bagh; the Union Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had chalked out a plan to detain and arrest key PFI functionaries across India that day. This gave the PFI no time to react or mobilise people in protest. Barring Kerala, which saw large-scale violence the next day on account of a flash hartal called by the outfit, no incident was reported from any other region even though the PFI has a presence in 23 States and Union Territories. In a coordinated operation, 109 members of the PFI were picked up from different States by the NIA and the police and detained under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), under which it is near impossible to secure bail.
