PETALING JAYA, April 28- Both factions of the now segregated Hidraf are making claims of being the rightful leaders of the movement.
P Uthayakumar today said he is the de-facto leader of Hindraf and his brother Waythamoorthy was merely overseeing the movement while he was detained under the now defunct ISA.
“I am the prime leader of Hindraf and I call the shots, nobody else. Waythamoorthy is my brother and he was only watching over it while I was away in prison,” he said.
The supreme council members of Hindraf have decided to remove Waythamoorthy from the movement claiming that he had diverted from its blueprint.
“I drafted the blueprint, it is obvious that Waythamoorthy has diverted from our initial intention. We have now decided to sack him from Hindraf,” said Uthayakumar.
“It was a unanimous decision by all five supreme council members. As far as I’m concerned, he and his supporters are now back to the Vivekananda Youth Movement,” he added.
Waythamoorthy was the leader of the Vivekananda Youth Movement before joining his brother in Hindraf.
Waythamoorthy’s faction named Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia was registered by the government last month which gives them the upper hand over Uthayakumar’s unregistered faction.
Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak recenty signed an MoU with Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia dubbed the “Hindraf-BN five-year blueprint for the Indian community”.
The MoU focuses on the upliftment of displaced estate workers, resolving the issue of statelessness, the provision of both education and business opportunities.
Just another promise
Uthayakumar, however, dismissed the MoU as another mere promise.
“So many promises have been made in the last 57 years, to me this means nothing more than just another promise,” he said.
“What we need is deliverance, without deliverance the Indian community will remain surpressed,” he added.
Uthayakumar was confident that he will able to win the Sri Andalas state seat and Kota Raja parliament seat this coming general election and said that his only competitor would be Pakatan Rakyat.
“I’m not going to support Pakatan or BN. I’m am confident I can win over the Indian votes and I will never let them down,” he said.
“I will show the people what I am capable of by delivering to the Indian community and not mere promises,” he added.
Uthayakumar will be facing a five-way fight in Sri Andalas and a four-cornered fight in Kota Raja.
‘We feel sorry for him’
Meanwhile, Waythamoorthy’s aide de camp W Sambulingam accused Uthayakumar of trying to gain cheap publicity by attacking his leader.
“Since his release from ISA, Uthayakumar operated under the Human Rights Party (HRP) banner, not Hindraf. Even the last convention we had on April 21, Uthayakumar did not attend it,” he said.
Sambulingam added that the deal signed between his faction and BN received the endorsement of the Indian poor and the 700 delegates who attended the recent convention.
“Uthayakumar knows he is losing support in his bid for the Kota Raja parliamentary and Seri Andalas state seats. Therefore, he is going around attacking Waythamoorthy. We feel sorry for him,” he said.
