PC Byte: Does Tarun Vijay think only BJP, RSS members are Indians?

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday took a swipe at BJP leader Tarun Vijay for his remarks against south Indians, asking whether BJP-RSS members were the only Indians in the country. "When Tarun Vijay said 'we live with blacks', I ask him who is 'we'? Was he referring to BJP/RSS members as the only Indians?," he asked on Twitter.

Chidambaram hails from Tamil Nadu and has been a former Finance and Home Minister. Vijay had on Friday kicked up a racism row after he appeared to suggest that Indians cannot be called racist as people live with those from south India who are "black". Vijay's controversial comments during a panel discussion on an international news channel had sparked an outrage with the Congress saying it was shocking while the DMK said it was funny.

Seeking to defend India against the charge of racism following attacks on African students, he had said, "If we (Indians) 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".

Facing an all-round backlash, especially on social media, the former editor of Panchjanya, a RSS-affiliated weekly, had later tendered an apology on Twitter. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had said the comments showed the saffron party's tendency to discriminate among people of the country.