Hindraf distances itself from Uthayakumar

In an apparent split within Hindraf, the movement leaders have disassociated the organisation from the statements made by Human Rights Party chief P Uthayakumar, dismissing them as his "personal views".

Three days ago, Uthayakumar had on behalf or Hindraf called on Pakatan Rakyat top leaders to spell out what they plan to do for the Indian community within 100 days of taking Putrajaya and invited them to do so at the Chetty Padang in Klang on April 22.

"The national leadership of Hindraf is deeply concerned with these unilateral statements and actions as it has been sending the wrong signals to the Malaysian public on the true stand of Hindraf," said national secretary P Ramesh (left) in a statement today.

He said that while Hindraf applauds the desire to get Pakatan leaders to publicly announce their policies on marginalised Indian Malaysians, "the decision to make this call was taken entirely by Uthayakumar without due consultation with Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy, national coordinator W Sambulingam, national adviser N Ganesan or any of the national coordinating committee members".

"This effectively renders the statement to be a personal statement and no more," said Ramesh.

"Further, the act of calling the Pakatan leaders to an open field, the Chetty Padang, to state their views is, in the opinion of Hindraf, inappropriate and an unbecoming method for making the point."

Ramesh stressed that any poorly-conceived action and position taken by Hindraf can do "great damage" to the movement's cause.

Uthayakumar (left), who is pro-tem secretary-general of the Human Rights Party, is Hindraf legal adviser, but not a member of the organisation's decision-making coordinating committee.

According to Ramesh, Hindraf leaders have kept their disagreements with Uthayakumar "under wraps", but the situation has reached to the point where they have to make their stand public.

Don't take unilateral actions, Uthaya told

It is learnt that Hindraf official leader, Waythamoorthy (right), who is in self-imposed exile in London, is not supporting elder brother Uthayakumar on the matter.

"If we continue to accept these undemocratic practices, it is clear that it is certainly going to cause serious impediments to our efforts to bringing the Indian poor into the national mainstream of development and of ending racist and religious supremacist policies of the present government," said Ramesh.

"If we do not correct this situation now, the cause for which we struggle is about to be set back. We are not about to let that happen."

Ramesh urged Uthayakumar to desist from taking unilateral actions in the name of Hindraf without due consultation and consent of the organisation.

"His contribution to the cause of the Indian poor is undeniable. However, he failed to realise Hindraf has matured into a civil rights movement with international standing.

"At the same time, we would like it to be known that we have no objections to any and all positions or statements issued or actions taken by Uthayakumar in the name of the Human Rights Party, which he personally formed and has a small following."