Kozhikode: Protesting the countrywide raid and arrests by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Popular Front of India (PFI) has called a hartal in Kerala on Friday.
The strike will be observed from 6 am to 6 pm, the Front's state committee said in a release on Thursday.
According to the committee, the NIA's unjust apprehension of the party's national and state leaders was part of state terrorism.
"Our strike is to protest the RSS-controlled fascist government's state hunt using central agencies to silence dissenting voices," the committee said.
A total of 106 PFI leaders were arrested on Thursday morning from 11 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.
The maximum number of arrests were made in Kerala (22), followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka (20 each), Andhra Pradesh (5), Assam (9), Delhi (3), Madhya Pradesh (4), Puducherry (3), Tamil Nadu (10), Uttar Pradesh (8) and Rajasthan (2).
The NIA action was in collaboration with the Enforcement Directorate (ED).