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Guwahati, Sept 28: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's decision to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for their alleged terror activities and said the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "bold and decisive".
The union home ministry, in a notification on Tuesday night, banned the PFI and several of its associate organisations.
"The government is firm in its resolve to ensure that anyone with a diabolical, divisive, or disruptive design against India shall be dealt with iron fist," the chief minister wrote on Twitter.
"India of the Modi Era is decisive and bold," he added. Sarma had earlier said that his government was consistently asking the Centre to outlaw the organisation for allegedly creating an eco-system for terror activities. The action of the central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties. Altogether 36 PFI activists have been arrested so far by the Assam Police from different parts of the state and New Delhi. The police had apprehended 25 activists of the organisation from eight districts of Assam on Tuesday, while 11 others were held on September 22-23, following the crackdown against the outfit by multiple agencies headed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
More than 170 people with links to the PFI were arrested from seven states on Tuesday, while 106 leaders and members of it were held in the earlier raids five days ago.
