While campaigning for support among Indian PKR members today, PKR deputy president candidate Rafizi Ramli said they should back "top leaders" who respected minorities, and not belittle those who come from the estates.

“What is the future of Indian politics? The future lies with multiracial parties, but we’d have to choose top leaders – Malay, Chinese, Indian (leaders) – who love minorities, who love the poor, and would not belittle Indians who come from estates,” he said at a gathering in Petaling Jaya today.

Though Rafizi did not mention any names in particular, he appeared to be referring to a comment made by his rival for the deputy president post, Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Azmin had made the comment when rebutting criticism from Kapar MP Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, seen as an ally of Rafizi, about his loyalty.

“These people now want to talk about Reformasi. They’ve lived a luxurious life, and now that things have calmed down, they come back (to talk about Reformasi).

"Then suddenly, don’t know from which estate or bush, (someone said) Azmin has to prove his loyalty to the party," Azmin had said.

Grooming Indian leaders

In his speech, Rafizi also said he had been lobbying PKR to groom Indian leaders to be fielded in the 14th general election.

He did not do this to win Indian support, he said, especially since he already had “one foot in prison” at the time, due to criminal charges still pending against him in the years before the election.

Instead, he said it is the responsibility of top party leaders to champion minority rights, but they can only do this with input from Indian leaders as well as those advocating for minority issues, despite not being in minority groups themselves.

Rafizi said he had pushed for constituencies made up of more than 15 percent Indian voters to be contested by Indian candidates in GE14.

Despite the backlash, he said his efforts did pay off to a degree, with some of these candidates going on to become state assemblypersons.

However, he said his efforts in Selangor were undermined by PKR members on “the other side.”