We accept South Indians, so how can we be racist?: BJP leader Tarun Vijay

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarun Vijay, in a shocking remark, on Thursday said that Indians cannot be considered ‘racist’ because they 'accepted' South Indians.

He made these remarks on a television debate on racism in India.

The BJP leader unwittingly said, "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 RSS-affiliated weekly Panchjanya, claimed that people with African ancestors have been living amicably in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

After facing severe backlash for his remarks, the BJP leader apologised on Friday saying he did not convey what he had meant to.

Admitting that his choice of words sounded “ridiculous” and “very bad”, Vijay clarified in a series of tweets he had meant to say that India’s racial demographic is diverse, but it has never been an issue for its citizens.

He also took the example of Lord Krishna, saying that while Krishna means black, we worship him; reiterating his stand that racism was not a problem in India.

“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 (sic),” he tweeted.

“My words perhaps were not enough to convey this. Feel bad, really feel sorry, my apologies to those who feel in said different than what I meant (sic),” he said in a tweet.

Vijay's shocking remarks come in the wake of an attack on Nigerians in Greater Noida two weeks ago.