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(Pi Bureau)
New Delhi: BJP’s Rajya Sabha member , RSS ideologue and president of the India-Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group Tarun Vijay has thrown another controversy by calling South Indians “blacks” while participating in an Al Jazeera talk show on the recent racist attacks in India at Noida.
“You are denying your own nation, you are denying your own ancestry, you are denying your own history, you are denying your own culture… and you are trying to be good. That’s very bad,” an agitated MP said over such remarks of Vijay
In the talk show, MP Vijay said, “To say that Indians can be racist is the most vicious thing because we worship black gods… Krishna is back. And we have been seeing the descendants of the Africans living amicably in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat.”
“We gave Gandhi to Africa and Africa turned him into a Mahatma and sent him back to us,” said Vijay. “We are the victims of racism… how can we be racist? We have fought against racism.”
Later, over twitter handle in a series of tweets, the BJP leader said he had been misquoted by media.
Condemning Tarun Vijay for his remarks, Congress leader Khushboo Sundar said, “Tarun Vijay’s statement is bizarre and senseless. Where does the color come from… This statement is surprising and show how RSS think for south Indians.”
“It’s high time that people stop looking at others for the color from their skin,” she said
DMK’s Kanimozhi termed it an “anti-national” statement. “I hope the BJP takes strict action against him,”
The debate on India being racist spurred in air when there were series of attacks and assaults on African students in Greater Noida, where locals accused them of cannibalism and drug abuse. The incident of attack on African students after death of a 17 year old student who as per locals died of drug over dozing . The Association of African Students in India later alleged an another attack and uploaded a video on WhatsApp of an African man being beaten by a mob, apparently in a Noida mall.
