KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Amid criticisms against its alleged failures to the Indian community, Barisan Nasional (BN) announced today the entry of two new member parties — Persatuan India Malaysia and the Punjabi Party of Malaysia (PPM).

The announcement, made by BN chairman and prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, comes less than a month after Hindraf chief P. Waytha Moorthy’s abrupt resignation from Cabinet — a move to protest the government’s alleged transgressions against ethnic Indians here.

According to a previous report online, PPM, which was formed in 1986, had repeatedly failed to gain admission into BN in the past, with at least six applications.

The Punjabi-based party is said to represent five per cent of the 130,000-strong Sikh community in the country. 

A search on PIM online returned no information.

On February 10, Hindraf chief Waytha Moorthy resigned as deputy minister to protest against Putrajaya for allegedly delaying promised reforms to improve the welfare of the country’s ethnic Indians.

It remains unclear if the Hindraf chief has also quit as a senator.

Waytha Moorthy, who returned from a self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom in 2012, went pro-government last year and took a pool of Hindraf leaders and supporters with him, armed with a belief that Hindraf’s support for Barisan Nasional would result in a better life for the country’s ethnic Indian community.

Hindraf was banned by the federal administration following the historic rally it organised in 2007 to demand rights for the community.

But several months before Election 2013, the government lifted the ban, earning accusations from critics that the move was merely a political manoeuvre to win the Indian vote.

Waytha Moorthy had insisted that it was Najib who had agreed to form a special government unit within the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) to be headed by a director-general and four assistants to oversee issues affecting the Indian community.

This unit, the leader claimed, was to be given a special budget with autonomy to enable it to carry out its tasks in a more focused manner.

But after eight months of persuasion, Waythamoorthy alleged that the promised budget allocation never became a reality.

“It became very clear to me there was no political will on his part,” said the leader, who had demanded that Najib resign, more than a week ago.