Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham

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Leader
  
J.S. RIFAI

Founded
  
1995

Newspaper
  
Makkal Urimai

Secretary-General
  
P.Abdul Samad

Headquarters
  
Mannadi, Chennai

Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (Tamil: தமிழ்நாடு முஸ்லீம் முன்னேற்றக் கழகம்) (Tamil Nadu Muslim Progress Conference) or TMMK is a Muslim non-governmental organization established in the state of Tamil Nadu in India in 1995. The TMMK has described itself in news releases as "a mass based" organization.

Contents

Background

The objective of TMMK is to protect the rights of the Muslim community in a democratic manner. TMMK has its branch offices in all the districts of Tamil Nadu and in several villages of the state. It also has its foreign offices in Malaysia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries has more than 1 lakh members. It was involved in Tsunami relief work and does social services including blood donation camps, eye camps and free ambulance services to poor. It

Rallies and protests

TMMK invites public to hold peaceful protests and demonstrations for demanding rights of Muslims. In February 2005, the TMMK urged the then-Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram to direct the Wakf Board to send all its communications only in the Tamil language to the administrators of mosques. A March 2007 rally organized by the TMMK in New Delhi drew support from the Association of Indian Muslims (AIM) of America. The TMMK has campaigned for the reservation of seats in educational institutions and the ear-marking of entrepreneurship schemes for Muslims in Tamil Nadu as per the recommendations of the Sachar Committee. The Tamil Nadu Thawheedh Jamaath (TNTJ) has been termed "a breakaway group" of the organization.

Every year TMMK observes anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition in a peaceful manner. These protests draw huge number of people from across the Tamil Nadu state and demand the arrest of 68 perpetrators including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Balasaheb Thackeray, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as implicated by Liberhan commission. The organization has also stages many protests for the protection Tamil Nadu fisherman and dalits.

Manithaneya Makkal Katchi

In early 2009, a new political party Manithaneya Makkal Katchi was launched after an amendment to the bylaws. The party contested in the parliamentary election the same year in 4 constituencies and polled 68,346 votes. But in the 2011 Assembly election, MMK allied with AIADMK and won 2 of 3 seats contested.

Views Against Terrorism

TMMK has condemned several acts of terrorism in India and in foreign lands. When the Al-Qaeda released a video related to Indian sub-continent, TMMK condemned it and advised Indian Muslims to ignore such hate messages. The leader of TMMK said “this (message) will only help security agencies in country to further target Muslim youth in case a terrorist act does take place.” In several occasion, TMMK has also condemned Israel for its brutality against Palestinian People. It has also raised voices for UN intervention to stop genocide of Palestinians. Similarly, TMMK has protested the genocide of Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

Criticism

  • The TMMK is believed to be controlled by former Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) cadres, who have been implicated in many terrorist acts. The TMMK urged the Union government (the government of India) to lift the ban on SIMI in 2005. University of Haifa political scientist David Bukay lists the TMMK as a "fundamentalist and subversive group." However, Tamil Nadu police believes that TMMK is a moderate organization
  • Activists of the TMMK and the Islamist al-Umma have been known to express communalist sentiments against Hindus in riots and protests. They are regarded as part of a covert network of Islamic Fundamentalist political outfits established in the region.
  • After the 1998 Coimbatore bombings and the communal violence that ensued from it, members of the TMMK were arrested following the banning of the related Jihadist group al-Umma (listed in Extremist Groups) who were directly behind the blasts. Leaders of the Jihad Committee and the TMMK were arrested in a statewide crackdown. Among those arrested were the TMMK president M.H. Jawahirulla and treasurer S.M. Bakkar. Over the next few days, many activists of the TMMK were arrested at Keezhakkarai, Devakottai, Dindigul, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Nagercoil, Melapalayam and Udumalpet as a precautionary measure.

    • On December 6, 2003, 450 activists of the TMMK were arrested for attempting stage a protest rally. Similar arrests were made earlier in 2000 where TMMK members were implicated.

    References

    Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA