Urimai has hit back at the Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP), claiming that it lacks grassroots support after the Perikatan Nasional (PN) component questioned its leadership and status as a political outfit.
In a statement, Urimai deputy chairman David Marshel compared the two Indian-based parties, claiming that MIPP was not born from public mandate or the struggle of grassroots.
Marshel also said that MIPP had “hijacked” another party’s name and structure, in an apparent swipe at its president P Punithan.
MIPP was reportedly registered as a political party in 2019, before joining PN in 2024. Punithan left MIC in June 2023 prior to joining MIPP.
“Urimai, by contrast, has already formed active state coordinating committees in eight states. We are building our base openly through the people,” Marshel said in response to MIPP deputy president S Subramaniam who had slammed Urimai leaders, in particular its chairman, P Ramasamy.
Subramaniam had labelled Ramasamy an “opportunist” with no real credibility among the Indian community as the latter quit DAP after being dropped as a candidate in the last Penang state election.
His remarks came after Selangor Urimai chief K Gunasekaran accused PN of failing to draw “real Indian leaders” with grassroots support.
Marshel said Ramasamy had resigned from DAP when he was the party’s Penang deputy chairman, and had even walked away from GLC appointments “to build a genuine struggle for the Malaysian Indian community”.
“MIPP’s leaders left MIC not because of any principle but because they could not secure positions in the party,” he added.
Marshel also said if MIPP believed that MIC’s “cast-offs” could “suddenly win back Indian support”, they were “fooling themselves”.
“MIPP can try to mislead the PN leadership about its reach and support. But the Indian community knows who these people truly are. No amount of repackaging will hide the truth,” he said.
