Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday condemned the 'racist rhetoric' against an Assamese contestant at a dance reality show at Colors TV by its host Raghav Juyal.
Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet said, "It has come to my notice that a popular reality show host has used racist rhetoric against a young participant from Guwahati. This is shameful and totally unacceptable. Racism has no place in our country and we should all condemn it unequivocally."
According to video clips shared on social media, the host of the dance reality show made reference to 'momos', 'chowmein' and 'Chinese' before introducing the contestant from Assam during an episode.
After the clip went viral, the TV show host issued a statement to "clarify the misunderstanding", saying that it was not racism on his part but something that the contestant had said earlier that prompted him to use the remark to evoke humour for audiences.
"It's unfair and not good for my mental health to see this short clip without the right context. When this contestant came to the show, she announced that she had a talent of speaking Chinese. My performance was based on that," Raghav Juyal said.