Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday condemned the “racist rhetoric” used by the host of a dance reality show against an Assamese contestant.

“It has come to my notice that a popular reality show host has used racist rhetoric against a young participant from Guwahati. This is shameful and totally unacceptable. Racism has no place in our country and we should all condemn it unequivocally,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a tweet.

According to video clips shared on social media, the host of the dance reality show made reference to ‘momos’, ‘chowmein’ and ‘Chinese’ before introducing the contestant from Assam during an episode.

After the clip went viral, the TV show host issued a statement to “clarify the misunderstanding”, saying that it was not racism on his part but something that the contestant had said earlier that prompted him to use the remark to evoke humour for audiences.