Kiren Rijiju condemns Raghav Juyal's remarks; says such comments harm 'national integrity'

Kiren Rijiju broke his silence on the ongoing Raghav Juyal’s racist remark controversy and lamented the popular reality TV anchor for using a racial slur while introducing a participant from Guwahati, Assam.

Union Minister of Law and Justice, who himself hails from Arunachal Pradesh called Raghav out and said that the entertainment of people is better without "insults & prejudices". He further claimed that this kind of thinking harms national integration. Kiren Rijiju expressed his anguish in a tweet and wrote, “This shows the lack of proper upbringing of such people. This kind of mentality harms our national integration. Entertainment is better minus insults & prejudices. Assam and North-East People are as much Indian as anyone is, in every aspect.”

Discarding the racial comments made by Raghav (where he allegedly discriminated against the child and compared her to a Chinese citizen), Rijiju iterated that the "people of North East are as much Indians as anyone else".

Hemanta Biswa Sarma condemns Raghav Juyal's 'Racist rhetoric'

The controversy caught fire after the Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma took note of the purported video that went viral on social media, with Raghav receiving flak for his comments. Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma took to his Twitter to condemn the TV anchor Raghav Juyal's "racist" introduction of a contestant hailing from the North East. 

Taking to his Twitter on 16 November, the CM harshly called out the "racist" and "unacceptable" remarks of the TV show anchor. He wrote, ''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."

 The artist drew flak online after his controversial introduction of a young girl named Gunjan Sinha went viral. The undated clip comes from an episode of Colors TV's popular dance reality show Dance Deewane 3. 

Raghav Juyal clarifies, says only one part of video shown

Dancer Raghav Juyal took to his social media to clarify the "misunderstanding" after being accused of racism on the dancing reality show Dance Deewane. The young dancer hosts the show whereas renowned choreographers Remo D'Souza, Tushar Kalia, Dharmesh Yelande and Madhuri Dixit sit on the judges' panel. He explained that the contestant named Gunjan Sinha from Assam revealed that she can "talk in Chinese" when asked about her hobbies and interests. Furthermore, he stated that the young contestant would talk in "gibberish Chinese" and it soon became an inside joke over the course of the show. 

Image: PTI/Instagram/@raghavjuyal