‘MIC Youth practises caste politics’

A fresh allegation has surfaced that MIC chief G Palanivel gets no invitations to MIC Youth functions because of his caste.

KUALA LUMPUR: Just a few days after branding MIC Youth chief T Mohan as a dictator, former MIC Youth public complaints unit head R Ramanan today claimed that the former also practised caste politics in the movement.

The businessman-turned-politician alleged that the party Youth wing has suffered tremendously after Mohan took over as its head a few years ago.

” I can give a simple example of Mohan’s caste-based politics. He has ran numerous programmes and invited only leaders of his own caste. As far as I know, he did not even invite the party president (G Palanivel) to any Youth functions as the guest of honour.”

“I believe that Palanivel was not invited because he is not the same caste as Mohan. I challenge him and the Youth wing to answer this… why didn’t they invite Palanivel to any functions? Can they answer this question?” he told FMT.

He claimed that Mohan had some Youth leaders in the national exco line-up from other castes because these leaders were “Mohan cronies”.

Ramanan was removed as the MIC Youth public complaints unit head early this month, through a letter signed by Mohan.

The letter furnished to FMT by Ramanan stated that he was relieved of his duties as part of the restructuring process in the Youth wing’s national bureaus and unit teams.

‘Ramanan a liar’

Early this week, Ramanan branded Mohan as a dictator while the latter revealed that Ramanan was replaced after he was found to be under-performing in his capacity as the public complaints unit head.

Meanwhile, when contacted, MIC Youth secretary-general C Sivaaraajh, calling Ramanan a liar, said the Youth wing and its chief never practised caste politics.

“The allegation that we have sidelined the party president because of caste is also baseless. We always follow protocol. When we organise a programme, our first invitation goes to Palanivel,” he added.

He said that the recently-concluded Ponggal festival launch and the 13th general election forum were evidence that the Youth wing did not snub Palanivel because of caste.

“We invited the president and he came for the functions. What Ramanan is saying is a blatant lie. I can say Ramanan’s biggest blunder is wanting positions but without working for it. He has to take a look at himself first before blaming others for his misfortunes,” he added. - FMT