Its chairman P Waythamoorthy said the “Indian masses”, comprising 65% of the 900,000 Indian voters in the country, were with Hindraf.
“They want Hindraf to represent them in Parliament and state legislative assemblies in Perak, Kedah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan,” he said after a meeting between Hindraf leaders and PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Waythamoorthy said in today’s meeting, Mahathir had acknowledged the fact that Hindraf had the support of the Indian community.
He said Hindraf had no intention of upsetting Indian leaders in PH.
“I’m sure they will respect that Hindraf speaks for the Indian community.”
Waythamoorthy said Mahathir had asked the other PH parties to give Hindraf an opportunity to contest in GE14.
He said PH didn’t need to worry about support from urban Indian voters as their concern was more the rural Indians who were traditionally represented by MIC.
These rural Indians, he said, viewed Hindraf as an alternative to MIC.
Waythamoorthy also said the recent redelineation would not affect Hindraf’s ability to garner support from the Indian community to help PH win 31 parliamentary and 59 state seats.
“Our role will be especially vital during the 11 days of campaigning, when a lot of handouts will be given.
“Just like in 2008, despite the handouts to the people, we convinced them that voting for change is better.”
Waythamoorthy said Hindraf was not demanding any specific parliamentary or state seats.
All it asked was for the parliamentary constituencies to have a mixed racial composition and for one state seat in Johor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, and Kedah, he said.
“We hope PKR and DAP will concede seats to Hindraf. We already said we will campaign for PH but our grassroots want something concrete in the form of seats.
“I’m sure that if we’re given seats there will be a wave of Indian support for PH,” he said, adding that handouts would not change the minds of Indian voters.
According to Waythamoorthy, no deadline has been given for PH to respond to Hindraf’s request for seats.
In March, PH accepted Hindraf and the New Generation Party as strategic partners to assist the coalition during the general election.
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