Raghav Juyal, an actor and a television presenter, has been accused of perpetuating racism on TV show Dance Deewane 3, a dance reality show hosted by him.
In one episode, Juyal was seen remarks involving Momos and Chow Mein before introducing a contestant named Gunjan Singh, a little girl who hailed from Assam. The clip appears to be old as the host has reportedly quit the show since then.
Racism!@TheRaghav_Juyal introducing Gunjan Sinha of Assam in #DanceDeewane3 of @ColorsTV with “Momo”, “Chinese” and celebs like @remodsouza, @MadhuriDixit have no objection in it.
— Ron Bikash Gaurav (@RonBikashGaurav) November 15, 2021
People of Assam is not Chinese, yet such shows always do racism comments.
When will it stop? pic.twitter.com/cOTA8s8nvy
Before introducing her on the stage, Raghav Juyal tried to evoke laughter among his listeners by making inane remarks in what he claimed to be Chinese. When judges Remo D’Souza, Madhuri Dixit and others asked him what is he speaking, Juyal says they won’t understand it and then goes on on to introduce Gunjan Singh as a girl whose “Chinese” might be incomprehensible, but her dance is understood by everyone.
“Introducing the little girl whose Chinese may not be indecipherable but her dance is understood by everyone…she is Gunjan Singh from Assam,” Juyal says.
Social media users slam Raghav Juyal for his racist remarks for an Assamese contestant
The Chinese jibes taken at the contestant from Assam did not sit well with social media users, who condemned the television presenter and asked Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Assam Police to act against him.
.@assampolice kindly take appropriate action against the show, judges as well as the anchor @TheRaghav_Juyal for mocking Assamese people.
— Ashutosh R Gupta 🇮🇳 (@iamaashoo) November 15, 2021
@himantabiswa ji, please look into this issue, how @TheRaghav_Juyal is making a mockery of the kid by calling Her Chinese while she belongs to Assam. This is highly disrespectful and racist. https://t.co/LwDDbwdGqS
— Ajay Sehrawat (@IamAjaySehrawat) November 15, 2021
Many others were shocked that racism was promoted so causally under the pretext of comedy.
This is unacceptable.
— Ê (@weeb_0_0) November 15, 2021
How can they can do racism openly on TV Shows and get away with it
How do such nincompoops like Raghav become a host and calling an Indian Chinese .. https://t.co/b32hi0C1Lo
— Subhrajit বসু / बासु #WearMask🙏🏻 (@Subhrajit_B) November 15, 2021
Social media users were angry with Juyal’s racist comments made for Assamese people and asked him to issue an unconditional apology.
Shocking – He must apologize…. Comedy ke chakkar mai ye log kuch bhi baqwaas kartey hain
— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) November 15, 2021
Casual racism and othering of Indians from the northeast are one of the most common forms of racism prevalent in India. People from the northeast India are often racially discriminated on the basis of their appearance or subjected to mockery by making racist references such as “Chinese”, “Momos”, “Chinky” and others against them.
Juyal issues statement
After the clip went viral, Raghav Juyal has issued a statement and said that it was not racism on his part but something that the child had said earlier that led to the joke. He said that once the girl had said she can spek in Chinese, which turned out to be gibberish, and since then, it had become an ongoing joke on the show.
According to Juyal, in previous episodes, it can be seen that it was a running joke which was inspired by the girl’s innocent comment about being able to speak Chinese and had nothing to do with racism. However, he did not elaborate on the ‘Momo’ and ‘Chow Mein’ comments.
Before Raghav Juyal at Dance Deewane 3, there was YouTuber Paras Singh
Earlier this year, Punjab police had arrested popular YouTuber Paras Singh after a case was registered against him for making a racist slur against Ninong Ering in one of his videos.
Paras had called Ering a non-Indian and Arunachal Pradesh as part of China. It was after the Congress legislator wrote a letter to PM Modi, asking to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India. The Youtuber was then brought to Itanagar on May 27. He was also given lessons on Arunachal Pradesh’s history and culture and was taught about the international border separating India and China. Paras has now been sent to judicial custody.
