Hindu Makkal Katchi


Hindu Makkal Katchi , literally meaning Hindu People's Party, also pronounced as Indu Makkal Katchi , is a right-wing Hindu nationalist party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The party also works for the welfare of Hindus in Sri Lanka. The party believes that "Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of living" and its objective is to promote Hindutva in Tamil Nadu.

Formation

In the early 1980s, Rama Gopalan founded Hindu Munnani as a socio-cultural organization to defend Hinduism and fight for Hindu rights. In the early 1990s, the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK government tilted towards Hindutva in reaction to the vote-bank politics of DMK. It began to back the Ganesh Chaturthi processions and Ram Jyothi Yatras organized by Hindu Munnani in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. During this time Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan inclined towards Jayalalitha. A section of the Hindu Munnani leadership differed with Rama Gopalan's on this. In 1993, they broke away under the leadership of S.V. Sridhar and formed the Hindu Makkal Katchi.

Intention

Tamil Nadu is one of the culturally enriched states having its own indigenous culture and more than 3000-year-old rituals and thousands of years old Shaivite and Vaishnavite traditions. Mr. Arjun Sampath, who is now leading leader of this party, claimed, "Tamil Nadu has been suffering under the Dravidian rule for 50 years." Not only in India, Hindu Makkal Katchi also spoke out for Sri Lankan Tamil. In Sri Lanka three fourth people are Sinhalese, in addition to them nearly 15% population are Tamil speaking people and they are mostly Hindus. There these Tamil speaking Hindus are persecuted. Various atrocities were being committed on them. Hindu Makkal Katchi registered strong protest against these atrocities.
An appeal was made by Shri. Arjun Sampath of Hindu Makkal Katchi in this regard.

Movements

Due to various extremist actions the party got repeatedly in conflict with the law. Its leader Arjun Sampath was arrested in 1997 on an attempted murder charge.
Hindu Makkal Katchi staged demonstrations on 29 October 2017 in front of theatres across Tamil Nadu in protest against 'objectionable sentences' about Goods and Services Tax in actor Vijay's 'Mersal'. HMK leader Arjun Sampath led a demonstration in front of a theatre in Kumbakonam and demanded removal of the 'controversial sentences'. Party activists tore up banners of Vijay and movie director Atlee. In Tiruchirapalli, HMK members staged a demonstration in front of a theatre, while similar protests were held at Ottenchathram in Dindigul and in Chennai. The movie ran into trouble soon after its 18 October 2017 release, coinciding with Diwali, over 'incorrect references' to the GST.
In 2008 and 2009 party members got temporarily arrested by the police to block them from staging nationalistic demonstrations on the island of Kachchatheevu, which belongs to Sri Lanka.
In 2009, Tamil fishermen got arrested by Sri Lankan Navy. To protect them, HMK supporters started agitations and pressurized Indian Govt to take responsibility of them and rescue them from Sri Lanka. When former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram visited Tamil Nadu, HMK supporters showed black flag as central govt failed to rescue Tamil fisherman from Sri Lankan navy. 19 supporters got arrested and removed from Gandhi park area by police. Not only Sri Lanka issue they also sought about handling problems in bilateral relations with Pakistan and China.
The party also made repeatedly headlines with peaceful charges against women. It pressed charges against the movie stars Kushboo Sundar, Shriya Saran and Mallika Sherawat for "indecent dressing" and "offending Hindu values". Party members also harassed women visiting pubs and young couples being out on Valentine's Day.
The Party's president Arjun Sampath claimed that 1000 Dalit Christians will be reconverted to Hinduism at Tirunelveli which gains significance in the backdrop 9 March police shootout in which two people were killed when clashes broke out between the members of upper caste Catholics and Dalit Catholics.
The party's five activists were arrested for indulging in demolition of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy's statue installed in front of the Rajagopuram of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam.
In 2017, Hindu Makkal Katchi leader strongly opposed the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second time visit to Sri Lanka next month, where he was going to participate in the United Nations Vesak Celebrations which was held from 12–14 May 2017. This ‘International Day of Vesak’ was hosted by the Buddhist-majority country and the commemorations in Colombo was also include an International Buddhist Conference in which over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries.