Group mulling on a new platform on Indian issues

Group mulling on a new platform on Indian issues

K Pragalath | Mar 11, 08 5:06pm

A group of Indian organisations are toying with the idea of creating a political platform to address pressing matters affecting the Indian community in this country. They are looking at either forming a non-governmental organisation or a political party to work with the opposition front to solve the shortcomings in the community. Spokesperson for the group A Thiruvenggadam said that the recent swing of the Indian voters away from the BN indicated that the Indian community was fed up with the empty promises made by the ruling coalition and the MIC. And he said that while the opposition has done extremely well in the general election, there was still a vacuum in the opposition coalition to actively promote the Indian issues. “This is where we want to come in to do our bit in helping the community improve its status,” said Thiruvenggadam at an informal meeting among 35 people representing various organisations yesterday. He said that the organisation or the political party would also be a platform for those who are not interested in politics but would like to serve the community. “We will first focus on issues such as voters registration within the Indian community as well as the setting up of think-tanks within the movement to identify ways to improve the socio-economy status of the Indians,” he added. Political party or NGO? However there appeared to be a division among the participants at the meeting, with many not eager with the idea of setting up a political party. They feel that an NGO would be able achieve more for the community. The group has decided to make a decision on the matter later, agreeing to form a commitment first on doing something positive for the community. The meeting also discussed and rejected the concept of Indian representation in the government through the MIC. There was a general air of dissatisfaction with what the BN and the MIC have done for the community over the years. Thiruvenggadam said that there were many issues affecting the Indian community which was not addressed by the ruling coalition. When contacted today, Thiruvenggadam said that he would prefer to form a political party instead of an NGO to achieve the aims of uplifting the Indian community. He said that the proposed party would look into ways to unite the community and ensure that the mistakes done by MIC are not repeated. “There would be rules to ensure that the leadership would only be held for the maximum of two or three terms and we will look into creating a new echelon of leaders,” he said. One common complaint about the MIC has been the length of president S Samy Vellu's tenure as the party chief, who was at the helm for 30 years.