MANJERI: The National Development Front (NDF) has said that it will counter the "vilification moves" against it through legal and populist measures.

Outgoing NDF chairman A. Sayeed said here on Tuesday that the front faced a politically motivated smear campaign by different groups with vested interests.

He was speaking at Green Valley Foundation, an educational centre of the NDF, in protest against the police action on the centre. The police had picked up 73 students on Friday night following the killing of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker at Othukkungal, near Malappuram. Cases for inciting communal hatred were filed against 25 of them, and they were remanded in judicial custody.

Mr. Sayeed, who is chairman of the foundation trust, the body that runs the study centre on 10.8 hectares of land on the Manjeri-Areekode road, said that cases were fabricated against his men at the behest of vested interests. He said the trust would take on legally those trying to frame them.

He said the front, which stood for empowerment of the marginalised, especially Muslims, was doing its best not to upset communal harmony in society.

He wondered why people were targeting it even when the RSS was growing from strength to strength. "Today, the RSS has its strongest base in Kerala... This is evident from the fact that the RSS successfully takes on the mighty CPI(M) in Kerala," he said.

He said there was nothing clandestine about Green Valley Foundation. He said policemen frequently visited the centre for collecting information.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail