'Use of race in politics is unacceptable'

The 20-year-old Indian American at the centre of a major controversy in a United States Senate campaign has said it is 'unacceptable' for race to be used in politics and has maintained a remark about him made by a Senator was racially motivated.

Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia had on Friday pointed to S R Sidarth, an active Democrat, and repeatedly referred to him as a 'macaca,' a derogatory term, which means a monkey.

Sidarth told PTI, "It is unacceptable for race to be used in politics in this day and age in America of all places and it is very disappointing to see it comes from someone that society holds to high moral standards like a Senator."

Speaking on phone from the Campaign Office of Jim Webb, a Democrat

who is challenging Allen for the Senate seat, Sidarth said he was sure that the senator used the word macaca even though it had been perceived in the American mainstream media that the Republican may have used a word that 'sounded' like macaca.

Allen kicked off a political furore when during one of the campaign stops, he picked on Sidarth and called him a macaca. Allen later denied he meant any insult to Sidarth and extended an apology.

But Sidarth said, "There is video of this on line... on there you can see that is exactly what he said and in some context especially in Europe it is used derogatorily to refer to immigrants and people of color. It comes from Latin for monkey."