New Delhi: Reacting to BJP MP Giriraj Singh's 'racist' remark targeting Sonia Gandhi which was also directed at the citizens of Nigeria, the African nation's Acting High Commissioner to India, Ob Okongor on Wednesday said he was hopeful that the Indian government will take appropriate action against him.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Okongor, however, said that this controversy won't affect the ties between the two countries.


Speaking to ANI, Okongor said, "Giriraj's remarks were in very bad taste and we expect the minister to withdraw the comments and apologise to the Nigerian people. We will notify our government about the issue. We are not going to prompt the Government of India, but will take certain action we consider appropriate.”


He further added, “I'm not going to comment publicly about it, but we have channels of communication and will be able to convey our reaction to Indian government.”


When asked if he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “We are not going to tell the Indian PM what to do. He is a very close friend and I believe he will do the right thing.”


“India and Nigeria have very strong relationship and we will not do anything that will destroy the relationship,” he added.


Giriraj Singh stroked a fresh controversy with his racist remark, wondering if Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi's leadership if she was not ''white-skinned''.


"Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?," he was quoted as saying by PTI.


Later, several woman activists and leaders of political parties strongly condemned his statement and demanded appropriate action against him.


The minister, who had courted controversies in the past for making remarks during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that those opposed to Narendra Modi can go to Pakistan, also mocked Rahul Gandhi's absence from the political scene and likened it to the "missing Malaysian airliner".


"Imagine a situation, if Congress was in power instead of us and had Rahul been the Prime Minister, and if for some reason, the PM had disappeared for more than 47 days.


"Absence of Congress vice president is similar to that of the missing Malaysian airliner that still has not been located. The same way the Congress leader was not present in the budget session. No one in Congress is ready to speak. This is unfortunate for the Congress and a joke for the country," he said.


When asked about his controversial remarks, Singh, who was in Delhi today, refused to comment. As his remarks snowballed into a major controversy, the BJP leader said if his comments have hurt the Gandhi family members, he regretted them.


"If Soniaji and Rahulji have been hurt by my remarks, I express my regret," he said even as he maintained that his remarks were "off the record" and suggested that media was blowing it out of proportion.


(With PTI inputs)