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‘Racial abuse’ on British show stirs controversy in India

* British foreign minister says Shetty’s treatment ‘offensive’

NEW DELHI: Anger over alleged racist taunting of a Bollywood star on a British reality TV show simmered in India for a second day Thursday, even as an Indian official tried to cool down the issue.

Shilpa Shetty, 31, was repeatedly reduced to tears during “Celebrity Big Brother” by a fellow contestant who has called the actress’ cooking untrustworthy, mocked her accent and complained about her “screeching.”

Another contestant said Indians were thin because they undercooked their food. Indian newspapers’ splashed the story across their front pages for a second day Thursday. TV news channels ran clips of Shetty crying.

A Hindustan Times newspaper editorial said “attacks on her (Shetty) show that racism is never really far from the surface.”

The brouhaha has drawn in everyone from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to a group of Shetty fans who protested in eastern India on Wednesday.

India’s junior foreign minister even said his government would take up the matter with London.

But on Thursday, India’s Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, tried to play down the controversy.

“What has happened is in a particular television show with a particular format that allows bad behaviour to be televised,” he told reporters after a meeting with British Treasury chief Gordon Brown in New Delhi.

Britain’s finance minister Gordon Brown - in India for a trade visit - described Shetty’s treatment as “offensive” and insisted Britain was “a country of fairness and tolerance”.

British commentators rallied around Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty Thursday, after she claimed for the first time she was a victim of racism on a TV show at the centre of a diplomatic row. The British and Indian governments have voiced concern about treatment of the 31-year-old actress on Channel 4’s “Celebrity Big Brother,” which has been accused of exploiting the row to boost ratings.

Protests: Complaints poured in Thursday over alleged bullying of Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty, after she blamed racism for her abuse on a TV show which has sparked diplomatic and street protests in India.

The number of formal protests received by British television regulators and broadcaster Channel Four rose to 30,000, after the Indian star spoke out for the first time about the attacks on her, officials said. agencies

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