Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Says Sorry For Racial Slur in Document

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was forced to apologise today for the use of a racist slur to describe an African national in an official document.

The use of the "n" word in one of the answers tabled in the Goa assembly has sparked outrage.

"It is a clerk writing something (racial word for Africans). They dpn't understand how serious a word is. I can't go through every word, if someone is hurt, I apologize," the Chief Minister said.

But Mr Parrikar also used a strange argument to downplay the mistake, which provoked a new round of criticism. "We deliberated the meaning of the word as mentioned in the dictionary. The word is also used to describe a river in Amazon, Brazil, which empties into the Atlantic ocean. Since it is not referred to any person, it need not be taken as an offence per se," he said. 

The unacceptable language was used in an explanation from the Home Department, which is headed by Mr Parrikar, while describing the suspect in a police case.

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The Congress said that the BJP government's mistake has tarnished the image of the popular beach destination.

"A circular needs to be sent to departments asking them to refrain from making such racist remarks. We are a tourist state and such words send negative signals to international tourists," Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat said.

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