Founder S. V. Sridhar Split from Hindu Munnani | Founded 1993 Ideology nationalist Hindu | |
Hindu Makkal Katchi (Hindu People's Party), is a nationalistic Hindu party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The Hindu Makkal Katchi originated in 1993 as a split-off from the Hindu Munnani. Its founder was S. V. Sridhar and later the party was led by Arjun Sampath. Another prominent member was R. Kalidas, who was murdered in 2005.
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. 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.
The party also made repeatedly headlines with actions against women. It pressed charges against the movie stars Kushboo Sundar (2006), Shriya Saran (2008) and Mallika Sherawat (2008) for "indecent dressing" and "offending Hindu values". Party members also harassed women visiting pubs and young couples being out on Valentine's Day.
Nearly 1000 Dalit Christians were reconverted to Hinduism at Tirunelveli town which gains significance in the backdrop March 9 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 5 activists were arrested for indulging in demolition of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy's statue installed in front of the Rajagopuram of Ranganathaswamy Temple situated in Sri Rangam.