DAYS AFTER the Centre denied charges of racism in the assault on a group of Nigerians in Greater Noida, the BJP was left red-faced by its leader Tarun Vijay’s remark during a discussion on Al Jazeera that Indians cannot be called racists as they live with “black people” from the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
“If we were racist, why would we have the entire south, which is complete, you know, Tamil, you know Kerala, you know Karnataka and Andhra, why do we live with them? We have black people around us,” said Vijay.
The remarks sparked a furore, embarrassing the former MP’s party colleagues and leadership. More so, because BJP chief Amit Shah had called on Thursday for expanding the party’s roots and strengthening the organisation in southern states.
The DMK in Tamil Nadu has however his statement funny. "Funny? Not all people in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are black. Our leader Dr Kalignar is far, Jayalalithaa was fair," T K S Elangovan of the DMK said.
After receiving backlash, Tarun Vijay attempted some damage control on Twitter. He clarified, "I said we worship Krishna, which literally means black, we were the first to oppose any racism and were in fact victims of racist British."
Vijay was not available for comment but apologised for his remarks, while attempting to explain them, in a series of tweets. In one tweet, he acknowledged that his remarks sounded “ridiculous and very bad”.
“In many parts of the nation we have different people, in colour and never ever we had any discrimination against them,” he posted. “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,” he wrote.
Such remarks from popular leaders increase racial animosity between Northerners and Southerners , Its true that Indians are a strongly colour obsessed, If you look at the advertisements of ‘Fair and Lovely’ and ‘Fair and Handsome’ as well as all manners of skin-whitening creams, lotions, and soaps, you will realize it.
Its not just about the color, Even if you are 100 per cent Indian, your fellow Indians might still discriminate against you on the basis of which region of India you come from, what language you speak, your religion, your caste and much more. We should stop spreading and talking about this divisive and anti national statements.