Tarun Vijay's other side – lover of Tamil culture, brought Thiruvalluvar to Haridwar

New Delhi: Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tarun Vijay on Friday faced accusations of racism after he appeared to suggest that Indians cannot be called racist as they live with black people hailing from the southern states of the country.

Speaking on a TV programme to defend India against the charge of racism following attacks on African students, he said, "We have blacks, black people around" and asked, "If we were racist, why would we have the entire south?"

His controversial comments triggered a backlash, especially on social media.

However, a look at his past works suggests just the opposite.

Tarun Vijay is a familiar face in Tamil Nadu, widely accepted as the Dravidian culture, because of his expression of love for Tamil, Thirukkural, and Thiruvalluvar.

Thiruvalluvar is a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher whose contribution to Tamil literature is known as the Thirukkural, a literature talking about everyday virtues of an individual.

Vijay's campaign to spread the Tamil language and culture of Tamilians in the north had earned him prestigious Thirukkural Thuthar (Ambassador of Tamil epic class Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar) award in 2014.

"I shall do all that I can to promote Tamil and the great icons of literature for the unity of north and south," the BJP leader had said after receiving the award.

"It is unfortunate that so far the greatest icon of Indian philosophy and universal brotherhood Thiruvalluvar was not introduced in the North...India is not just about Tulsidas and Valmiki unless we include Thiruvalluvar, Subramanian Bharathi, and Andal," Vijay had said.

He is also known as the one who brought a statue of Thiruvalluvar from Kanyakumari to the banks of the River Ganga in Haridwar.

Talking to The Hindu in June 2016, the leader denied having any political agenda, hidden or otherwise, behind his move of installing Thiruvalluvar's statue in Hardwar and claimed that his love for the Tamil language was genuine.

The former editor of RSS's weekly organ 'Panchajanya' had also been felicitated by Tamil literary personalities in Chennai for his efforts.

Vijay has also advocated making the biography of Thiruvalluvar a part of the syllabus in schools all over the country.

However, his recent comments on Al Jazeera news channel have put the BJP leader in the dock. He said he had been misinterpreted.

Attacked for his controversial comments, Vijay apologised and tweeted: "My words perhaps were not enough to convey this. Feel bad, really feel sorry, My apologies to those who feel I said different than what I meant."