Eight former senior activists of Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) have received legal letters from the organisation for their differing views, said former national adviser N Ganesan.

Ganesan said the eight had left the organisation because of serious differences over policies with the PHM leadership, led by P Waythamoorthy.

Those who had received legal letters are K Tamilselvan, former vice-chairperson, who allegedly claimed that the acronym ‘Hindraf’ which stands for Hindu Rights Action Force, is not the exclusive right of PHM.

According to Ganesan, PHM had claimed it had the legal right to use the name ‘Hindraf’.

Similar letters were also sent to Ramesh Perisamy, PHM’s former secretary and Perak state head, K Kalayselvam, central committee member and former Penang state head, GV Shanmugam and a senior activist from Perak, known only as Nagrandan.

Ganesan said Ramesh and another senior activist known only as Komallam were also sent lawyer’s notices for allegedly defaming Waytha Moorthy in their postings on social media.

Ganesan said the activists who were being threatened with legal letters all thought that PHM’s 2013 memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Prime Minister Najib Razak was “a major tactical defeat” in Hindraf’s struggle.

The MoU was signed to improve the status of the Indian poor, and with it, PHM pledged allegiance to BN in the national polls.

Waythamoorthy was appointed a deputy minister in Najib’s cabinet to oversee Indian affairs after the 2013 national polls but resigned after eight months.

“Their (the eight activists') position was, although defeated, there was opportunity to come back in subsequent periods.

“However, this was not the view promoted by the then leadership of PHM,” Ganesan said in a statement.

Ganesan said the view promoted by PHM within the central committee (CC) was considered “a betrayal” by these activists .

He added that these senior activists had called on PHM to challenge Najib and BN in court for not living up to the spirit of the MoU.

However, the call met with opposition from a section within PHM for reasons best known to the group within the CC, said Ganesan.

“There was only foot-dragging and frivolous excuses that were offered every time it was raised by these activists that a challenge should be mounted,” Ganesan explained.

These activists felt PHM was no longer the idealist organisation they had joined earlier.

“They left in utter disgust as betrayal of the Indian poor was about to become the official position of PHM,” Ganesan said.

“In a betrayal, you are condemned forever in history and there is no regaining the trust of the people,” Ganesan added.

Ganesan said now there seemed to be “malicious attempts” to block the different expressions and analysis offered to the general public by the eight former senior Hindraf activists on the debacle of the MoU.

He added that it was ironical for PHM, an organisation which claimed to be human rights defenders, to resort to such threatening actions to prevent free expression as diverse political opinion.

He said the opinions offered by the eight former activists were merely an alternative understanding of what had happened in the failed MoU initiative.

“These views are offered so that the general public can have access to a fuller spectrum of opinions with which they can make their own conclusions about the truth,” Ganesan said.

“Only a full range of alternative political views and opinions presented to the people can result in improved understanding of complex issues and for productive directions to be taken for the betterment of the lot of the people and for the nation as a whole,” he added.

Ganesan said this was the basis of the principle of the right of free speech in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He added that an organisation that had contradicting public and private positions on fundamental human rights issues could not be taken seriously as a human rights defender organisation.

“It makes a mockery of human rights,” Ganesan added.

In what seemed to be an attempt to make an active comeback to the political scene, PHM was planning a mega-rally next year in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25 in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the 2007 Hindraf rally.

In the 2007 rally, 300,000 had turned up to support Hindraf’s call to improve the status of the Indian poor in Malaysia.

In a statement issued on Nov 24, Waythamoorthy recalled that Najib had promised to carry out socio-economic activities tailor-made for the Indian community after signing the MoU.

Najib had then assured that the funding and programmes would be entrusted to the PHM leadership, Waythamoorthy added.

"Though Hindraf supported BN in the last general election based on this promise and the written MoU, the PM has proven once again that Umno cannot be trusted and will even be willing to break a written agreement, to keep its crony - the MIC - in power," Waythamoorthy had said in a statement.