Tarun 'tweets' to clear air on racism row

New Delhi [India], Apr. 7 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former parliamentarian Tarun Vijay took to Twitter on Friday to clear the air about his remarks on racism and South Indians. "Feel bad, really feel sorry, my apologies to those who feel i said different than what I meant," tweeted Tarun Vijay. Vijay found himself in the middle of a storm as he tried to defend India after recent attacks on African students in Greater Noida. He reportedly told news channel Al Jazeera's online show The Stream: "If we were racist, why would we have the entire entire south.Tamil, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra.why do we live with them? We have black people around us," the politician was heard as saying in the video. Vijay was cornered as the video went viral. People on social media platforms reacted very sharply over his reported remarks about South Indians. He was busy giving clarification and replying through his twitter handle @Tarunvijay. "I can die but how can I ridicule my own culture, my own people and my own nation?Think before you misinterpret my badly framed sentence. Yes," said one of his tweets. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can die but how can I ridicule my own culture,my own people and my own nation?Think before you misinterpret my badly framed sentence. Yes <a href="https://t.co/fyxJQuP3mI">https://t.co/fyxJQuP3mI</a></p>&mdash; Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarunvijay/status/850281615901294592">April 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> When a South Indian twitterati @SnehaMKoshy ridiculed Tarun Vijay in a tweet "@Tarunvijay Oh! We the 'Madrasis'!"; the BJP leader answered: "I have Tamil, Bengali, Telugu in my family-worked with commitment for Tamil culture, without any politics, collectively with all." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have Tamil, Bengali, Telugu in my family-worked with commitment for Tamil culture, without any politics, collectively with all. <a href="https://t.co/QJUjm9XZW2">https://t.co/QJUjm9XZW2</a></p>&mdash; Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarunvijay/status/850281251118383104">April 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> His other tweet said, "And, I never, never, even in a slip, termed south india as black. Have patience to watch the show before reacting angrily." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And, I never , never, even in a slip, termed south india as black. have patience to watch the show before reacting angrily. <a href="https://t.co/fyxJQuP3mI">https://t.co/fyxJQuP3mI</a></p>&mdash; Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarunvijay/status/850281866913558529">April 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Replying to another Twitter user, the former parliamentarian tweeted: "I said we worship Krishna, which literally em,ans (read- means) black, we were the first to oppose any racism and were in fact victims of racist British." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I said we worship Krishna, which literally em,ans black, we were the first to oppose any racism and were in fact victims of racist British <a href="https://t.co/kjSBSNl9w8">https://t.co/kjSBSNl9w8</a></p>&mdash; Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarunvijay/status/850266563995250688">April 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Meanwhile, the opposition leaders, especially from South India, also started castigating Tarun Vijay over his reported remarks despite his bid on Twitter to clarify himself. On the other hand, many of Tarun Vijay's followers on Twitter defended him. (ANI)