The BJP has demanded expulsion Kerala minister Ahmmed Devarkovil, who belongs to the Indian National League (INL), which allegedly has close relations with Rehab India Foundation (RIF), one of the affiliates of the Popular Front of India (PFI), which was banned by the Central government on Tuesday under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Speaking to media persons in Thiruvananthapuram, BJP’s Kerala  president K Surendran said state Ports and Museums Minister Devarkovil is associated with the Rehab India Foundation which has been banned by the Centre along with the PFI,  and urged chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan  to expel him from his cabinet.
Stating that the INL, which is a constituent in the Left front, is headed by a person who is associated with a banned organisation Surendran asked as to how such a party is continuing in ruling Left Front.
“Ahamed Devarkovil, Ports and Museums Minister in the LDF government, is associated with the Rehab India Foundation. The Indian National League’s(INL’s) national president Mohammad Sulaiman is the chairman of the Rehab Foundation which is funding the PFI. So, Pinarayi Vijayan should expel Ahamed Devarkovil from  his cabinet,” Surendran said
Surendran asked as to how Ahmed Daverkovil, who has links with such an outfit, could continue as a member of the state cabinet and leader of the LDF constituent party.
. “If the LDF has some concern about unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country, it should expel Devarkovil from the cabinet and INL from the Left front. The LDF cannot rule in alliance with an organisation that supports anti-national activities,” he said.
Surendran urged the CPI-M-led  LDF and the  Congress-led UDF to end the practice of ruling local bodies in the state with the support of PFI and its political arm the Social Democratic Party of Inda (SDPI)
He also said Congress and the CPI-M are solely responsible for giving the political acceptability to the PFI and SDPI that they do not enjoy in any other state.
In a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday, the PFI and its affiliate organizations were banned under UAPA for a period of 5 years. Besides the PFI, its affiliates- Rehab India Foundation, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Campus Front of India, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala have been declared as “unlawful.
INL leader Kassin Irikkur has dismissed Surendran’s allegations saying that the allegations levelled by Surendran are nothing but political nonsense.
Meanwhile, Abdul Sathar, the state general secretary of PFI on Wednesday in a Facebook said the organization has been disbanded in view of the central government’s decision to declare it as illegal. Hours after this Facebook post, police arrested him from Karunagappally
Sathar, who was allegedly absconding after calling for a state-wide hartal on  23 September  in protest against nation-wide raids on the outfit’s offices and arrests of its leaders, is expected to be handed over to the NIA