Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday apologised for referring to an African origin man as a ‘negro’ even as he blamed the error on what he said was a lowly ignorant clerk.
In an annexure to a written reply submitted before the Goa State legislative Assembly, Parrikar had used the ‘N’ word albeit incorrectly spelt at ‘nigro’.“If someone is hurt, I apologise,” Parrikar told the State legislative Assembly during Zero Hour.“These clerks in police don’t understand how serious a particular word is,” Parrikar said.
An annexure submitted along with Parrikar’s written reply tabled during the Monsoon Session of the Assembly on Wednesday, referred to an African national arrested in the beach village of Calangute on May 8 as “unknown African nigro”.Parrikar on Thursday said that it is not even clear whether the person arrested was from an African nation or not and what was only clear is that he is an “unknown person with dark complexion”.
Parrikar, in one of his characteristic attempts to ‘enlighten’ his colleagues in the Assembly, also said the word negro has two meanings. “Never refer a dark person as a negro because it is a derogatory word … Negro also means a river in Amazon, in Brazil which empties into the Atlantic Ocean,” he said.