A group of MIC members caused a ruckus at the Indian Unity Gathering organised by critics of party president S Samy Vellu here today, forcing the police to move in to calm the situation.
The 50-odd pro-Samy Vellu group, led by Selangor MIC information chief L Siva Subramaniam, barged into Dewan Hamzah just as the gathering started at 2pm to heckle and throw insults at the organisers of the gathering.
Siva Subramaniam and his men shouted that no one should insult Samy Vellu.
“Who are you to talk about Samy Vellu? What did you do for the Indian community?” one of them asked the coordinators of the gathering.
Despite the tense situation created by the gate-crashers, organisers KP Samy, V Mugilan, G Kumar Aamaan, V Subramaniam and M Karunanidhi held their ground and urged their 2,000 supporters to stay silent and remain calm.
The organisers refused to be provoked and started chanting 'ahimsa' (non-violence), a move which was quickly followed by their supporters. Despite this, FMT learnt, a melee in the hall caused minor injuries to some people, including a journalist.
The police moved in shortly and urged the pro-Samy Vellu faction to stand down and allow the gathering to continue.
Those present were then informed by the speakers of their need to remain steadfast in their cause to unite the Indians.
Samy Vellu is a coward
Talking to reporters later, the organisers blasted their uninvited guests for their uncouth behaviour.
“Samy Vellu is a coward for trying to stop a peaceful gathering,” said sacked MIC central committee member KP Samy.
“We have already mentioned that we fully back the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the Barisan Nasional government.
“BN is going to have problems due to Samy Vellu's attitude. Now you all know who are the real troublemakers,” he blasted.
Mugilan meanwhile thanked the police for their swift response in handling the situation.
“The crowd today was made up of decent people and Samy Vellu has shown his style of gutter politics here,” said the sacked MIC national deputy youth chief.
“He should step down immediately,” Mugilan said.
All the main organisers of the gathering were sacked by Samy Vellu for working against the party.
Anti-BN gathering
Meanwhile, Siva Subramaniam told FMT that he is very happy that the police controlled the tense situation immediately.
However, he expressed his disappointment that the gathering was permitted to continue despite not having a police permit.
“We even appealed to the Klang local council not to allow KP Samy to use the hall but it dismissed us,” he said.
He added the gathering was not in support of the BN leadership at all.
“How can they claim to be supporting BN when they brought Hindfaf leaders to the gathering,” he said, referring to R Kenghadaran and V Ganabatirau's presence at the gathering. The two of them were arrested under the Internal Security Act in 2007 and released in 2009.
Kenghadaran and DAP-member Ganabatirau told the gathering they were there for the common good of the community.
“This is not about DAP, MIC or any political party. This is about working for a common interest which is uniting Indians for a common agenda.” said Ganabatirau.
courtesy of FMT
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