Career
He was first president of the Croatian Party of Rights, after party was reestablished in 1991. In 1993 he founded a split party, Croatian Party of Rights 1861 due to disagreement with Anto Đapić. In his early days Paraga advocated the secession of Croatia from Yugoslavia which led to persecution by the Communist authorities.
He used that persecution as an argument against Yugoslavia and its low human rights standards.
Because of that he became one of the best known dissidents. When a multi-party system was established in Croatia, Paraga initially joined the Croatian Democratic Union of Franjo Tuđmanitoba
However, involvement with the party clearly indicated that there was variation in sentiment among its members. Paraga felt that his Christian Democratic Union did not appear to be the radical party which he had expected, and so the party split.
Paraga, and a delegation of Christian Democratic Union dissidents, reformed the Croatian Party of Rights (Hungarian Socialist Party).
While Tuđman saw the Croatian path of independence through negotiations with Slobodan Milošević, Paraga formed the growing chorus of those who preferred direct and resolute military action against Krajina Serbs and Yugoslav People"s Army. Because of that, his party formed its own militia, the Croatian Defence Forces (Croatian: Hrvatske obrambene snage, HOS). Paraga"s situation was similar to that of Dragoslav Bokan in Serbia.
In an interview in 2000 Paraga stated about the aims of the party that they are “for a Croatia to the Drina, and for a Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Adriatic”.
Paraga explained that they think they would be much stronger as a union of two countries. Paraga"s growing popularity, together with his militia, began to look like a serious threat to the Croatian government.
Reaction came in the form of arrests, indictments and all kinds of intimidation towards Hungarian Socialist Party and HOS members, even stretching to deaths of Hungarian Socialist Party members in mysterious circumstances. This campaign gradually subsided, with HOS units formally joining the Croatian Army and the escalation of war in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Those charges were ultimately dropped, but the most serious blow for Paraga came when Đapić turned against him and took over the leadership of the Hungarian Socialist Party at the 1993 party convention in Kutina.
Paraga accused Đapić of being in cahoots with Tuđman and tried to retrieve party leadership in court. Following the failure of the effort and second split with fellow party members, Paraga founded a party called Croatian Party of Rights 1861, claiming to be the true descendent of the 19th century party in Austria-Hungary.