If we were racist, we wouldn't be living with South-Indians: BJP's Tarun Vijay

At a time when the brutal assault on two Nigerian students by a mob in a Greater Noida mall has been raising questions on whether the people from other countries, especially African, are safe in India or not, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and editor of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh weekly Tarun Vijay has come under the scanner for a rather unfortunate comment that he intended to make while defending India's policy of anti-racism.

In a recent interview, Vijay, when asked about why India was being called racist by practically everybody around, asserted that had India been racist, it wouldn't have had a place for the South-Indians.

"I don't know who you are, whether you're an Indian or you belong to some other nation. But you know the entire South India. There is Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra. There are black people all around. So if we were racists, why would we be living with these black people. You are denying us of our ancestory. You are denying us of our history. This is not good. We can be as good or as bad as any other human community," Vijay told the news presenter, who didn't look very amused with the curt reply.

As soon as the video surfaced online, Vijay started trending on the social media.

Vijay's comments have invited an univocal wrath especially in the wake of reports of 'racial' attacks in various parts of the country.

Earlier, the March 28 incident of attacks on students of African origin at a shopping mall in Greater Nodia shocked India.

Called a manifestation of racial prejudice, the incident took place against a background of simmering tension between the local residents and the African students.