New Delhi: Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tarun Vijay on Friday stoked a controversy when he appeared to suggest that Indians cannot be called racist as they live with black people hailing from the southern states of the country.


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Participating in a debate on Al-Jazeera news channel, the BJP leader defended India against the charge of racism following attacks on African students and said: “We have blacks, black people around...If we were racist, why would we have the entire south?"


His controversial comments triggered a backlash, especially on social media, forcing him to tender an apology on Twitter.


"If we were racist, why would we have the entire south? Which is you know... Completely Tamil, you know Kerala, you know Karnataka and Andhra. Why do we live with them? We have blacks, black people all around us," he said on air.


Vijay, a former editor of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated weekly Panchjanya, claimed that people with African ancestors have been living amicably in Maharashtra and Gujarat.


He also said Indians worship black gods and referred to Lord Krishna.


The former BJP parliamentarian, however, apologised today for his controversial remarks. He said he had been misinterpreted.


Faced with criticism, he said his words were perhaps not enough to convey what he wanted to say.


 


"My words perhaps were not enough to convey this. Feel bad, really feel sorry, My apologies to those who feel I said different than what I meant."


Vijay said that he was misinterpreted and tweeted: "And, I never, never, even in a slip, termed south India as black. have patience to watch the show before reacting angrily."


"I can die but how can I ridicule my own culture, my own people and my own nation? Think before you misinterpret my badly framed sentence," Vijay said in another tweet.


"In many parts of the nation we have different people, in colour and never ever we had any discrimination against them."


"Yes, it sounds ridiculous and very bad. I meant, we worship Krishna, which literally means black. And we have never had any racism," Vijay said.


"... we were the first to oppose any racism and were in fact victims of racist British."


Clarifying that his statement was wrongly interpreted, Vijay said: "I feel the entire statement was this - we have fought racism and we have people with different colour and culture still never had any racism."


He added that he meant that our country has people of all colour.


Replying to tweets, Vijay said: "I have Tamil, Bengali, Telugu in my family - worked with commitment for Tamil culture, without any politics, collectively with all."


Vijay's comments invited a barrage of criticism on social media.


Meanwhile, the Congress described Vijay's remark as shocking, while the DMK said it was funny.


Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the comments showed the saffron party's tendency to discriminate among people of the country.


DMK MP TKS Elangovan said Vijay's comments were funny as not all people in the south India are dark-skinned and cited the example of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.


His party's spokesperson said his comments offered a glimpse of a divide between north India and south India.


Congress leader Khushboo said such remarks by the BJP leader were "shocking" and he should have been more careful.


The actress-turned-politician noted that he has worked to promote the Tamil culture.


"This is a country which is secular and does not believe in any colour and here is a party which is trying to give one single colour to it. This is absolutely not acceptable," Khushboo said.


BJP spokesperson Shaina NC said her party believes in inclusive approach towards every religion, language and culture.


"May be he (Vijay) could have worded it differently... For whatever words (used by Vijay), India continues to be a diverse country," she said. 


(With Agency inputs)