Senior CPI(M) leader and Kerala Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran has courted controversy after calling a senior world bank official involved in a road project in the state as ‘Negro’ and ‘slave.’
Malayala Manora reported that the minister hurled racial slur against World Bank’s Bernard Aritua in his speech in Kasaragod. T full transcript of the speech has been submitted to the World Bank's Delhi office and the bank officials are likely to see the minister to register their protest, the report says.
In his speech, the minister said, “Four times, their (World Bank) representatives came and met me. The team leader is an Afro-American. That means he's part of Obama's race. He is a Negro. They were brought to America as slaves centuries ago. When slavery ended, they became free - this officer is also part of that,” the minister said.
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“World Bank means America. Kerala has existed even before America was born. Don’t threaten us to withdraw the bank loan. KSTP (Kerala State Transport Project) is one of the corrupt projects in Kerala. Officials of the World Bank are responsible for the tardy progress of the project,” he said.
Later, Sudhakaran sought to play ignorance on his part about the racial implications of his comment.
"I did not know that one should not use the term Negro. Never meant to demean the official," he said, adding, “Lot of people, including my son, pointed out this to me. I tender my apologies," the report adds.
