The Campus Front of India (CFI) is the student/campus wing of the banned Islamist organization, the

Popular Front of India Popular Front of India (PFI) is an Islamic political organisation in India, that engages in a radical and exclusivist style of Muslim minority politics. Formed to counter Hindutva groups, it was banned by the Indian Ministry of Home Affair ...

. CFI was launched at

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

on November seventh at the National Students Convention 2009. The founder and president was Muhammad Yusuff from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. The Popular Front of India, Campus Front of India and seven other associated outfits were banned by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

for unlawful activities in September, 2022.

Protests

Anti-CAA protests

The CFI actively took part in the Anti-CAA agitations across the country. Approximately thirty-eight members of Campus Front of Indians were arrested for organizing Collectors Gate Road blockade in

Mangaluru Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

on seventeenth of December 2019. The protest was held to condemn the alleged police action against the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and AMU who protested against the new

Citizenship Amendment Act The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Indian nationality law, Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for Religious persecution, persecuted rel ...

. On February twenty-seventh 2020, fifty members were arrested for staging a Rajbhavan march in Bengaluru while protesting against the violence that took place in Northeast Delhi.

Hijab protests

The organization held protests against the CBSE-conducted

All India Pre Medical Test The All India Pre-Medical test/ Pre-Dental Entrance Test was an annual medical entrance examination in India. The exam was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) but is now replaced by NEET-UG by National Testing Agency. The e ...

(AIPMT), for including the

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

and

burqa A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...

in its list of restricted items in the examination halls. The AIPMT restricted head-coverings to discourage unfair practices during the examinations in 2015. Earlier in 2022, the CFI allegedly encouraged six Muslim students at the Government PU College for Girls in Udupi to take a stand on the right to wear the

in the college premises. The college previously restricted hijab as being incompatible with its uniform and dress code. The protest led to a huge row in the state of Karnataka, with rival groups of Hindu and Muslim students protesting against each other, and a writ petition in the

Karnataka High Court Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. The lawyer representing the college characterized the CFI in the High Court as the chief instigator of the dispute and a "rank radical organization". The CFI met with the college authorities and the deputy director for pre-university education demanding that they should allow girls to wear hijab to attend classes.

Raising issues related to Campus/Schools

CFI held protests against the four year undergraduate program (FYUP), proposed at the

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. On the 20th of June 2013, it organized a signature campaign in over 100 colleges of twenty universities in many parts of India. After about two years of establishment of the lock-down, CFI along with other student organizations of Jamia Millia Islamia have demanded reopening of the campus at the earliest opportunity.

Against crime on campus

CFI protested against the Mangalore One School Management for inaction after a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a cab driver. It extended its support to Justice for Baby

Nirbhaya The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-yea ...

Forum by the United Muslim Organization and participated in Silent Candle Light at

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

. On November 9, 2019, Fathima Latheef, a nineteen year old first-year undergraduate student of

Indian Institute of Technology Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

died by suicide in her hostel room in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, allegedly due to the humiliation and religious discrimination she was facing from faculty members. CFI staged a

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

outside IIT-Madras demanding that those responsible for her death must be punished.

Human Rights

CFI

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is a district of Karnataka state in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangalore. It is part of the larger Tulu Nadu region. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east ...

unit demanded that the Deputy Commissioner handed over the Soujanya rape and murder case to the CBI in a protest held in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore. CFI on behalf of its Save Rohingya campaign organized a march to the Myanmar embassy protesting against the Myanmar government's atrocities against

Rohingya people The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...

Campaigns

Green Campus / Healthy Campus Campaign

CFI's

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

unit conducts the Green Campus campaign in June every year, through planting trees and cleaning school campuses in

. On 5 June 2015, (

World Environment Day World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June and encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. It is supported by many non-governmental organizations, businesses, government entities, and represents the ...

) the organization re-launched the campaign with a new name, Healthy Campus, hoping to widen its reach. Along with planting trees and cleanliness, it raised anti-drug and anti-tobacco awareness in schools. These activities helped the organization to gain a good name through social service, dimming allegations against it.

Dignity Conference

CFI celebrated its 10th Anniversary on the theme "Decade of Dignity". The conference was held on 6 November 2019 at the

Talkatora Stadium Talkatora Indoor Stadium () is an indoor stadium located in New Delhi, India. The stadium has a capacity of 3035 people. The stadium is owned and managed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). The stadium complex also includes the Talkatora ...

in New Delhi.

Kannan Gopinathan Kannan Gopinathan (born 12 December 1985) is a former Indian Administrative Service officer and an activist from Kerala. He resigned from service as a mark of protest against the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogatio ...

, an Ex IAS Officer, Shwetha Sanjeev Bhat, the wife of jailed Gujarat police officer, and Chinmaya Mahanand Ambedkarite addressed the gathering.

Controversies

The CFI was considered to be an involved party in the murder of Abhimanyu in the Maharaja's college

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

during a clash with the SFI. The Enforcement Directorate concluded that substantive amount of funds were raised by the PFI along with affiliated organizations like the CFI to run terror camps, money laundering, and creating a riot atmosphere by promoting enmity between various religious groups.

Award

According to TwoCircles online news agency, Campus Front announced an award named ''Ekalavya Award'' for Students with 'exceptional performance in higher secondary, poor backgrounds and hailing from marginalized communities'.