By Arun Kumar

Washington, Aug 17 (IANS) Indian American groups have been caught in a brewing controversy over a presidential hopeful tossing a perceived slur in the heat of an election campaign for the Senate.

Despite a quick apology by Republican senator George Allen for addressing a young Indian American volunteer for the campaign of his Democratic opponent, James Webb, as "Macaca", criticism poured in about his use of the offensive word.

Allen made the comments to about 100 supporters at a campaign stop in the southwestern Virginia town of Breaks. Moments after greeting the crowd, Allen repeatedly pointed at S.R. Sidarth, 20, called him "Macaca, or whatever his name is" and went on to say, "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia," as the crowd laughed.

After the controversy broke Allen issued a statement Tuesday saying his remarks to Sidarth, "have been greatly misunderstood by members of the media."

"Macaca" was only a play on "Mohawk," a nickname given to Sidarth by the Allen campaign because of his hairstyle. It was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false, he said.

But the question has been fiercely debated: Was "Macaca," which literally means a genus of monkey, a deliberate racist epithet or a weird ad-libbed word with no meaning? And what was Allen trying to say by singling out the young man of Indian descent?

Indian American groups demanded an apology for Allen's "demeaning comments" against a native Virginian of Indian descent, while Democrats, left-wing bloggers and civil rights groups called him "insensitive" and "racist". Some conservatives called him "foolish" and "mean".

The Democratic National Committee was quick to circulate an editorial in the Washington Post that broke the story Monday suggesting that Allen was out of touch with ordinary Americans, especially minorities and people of colour and how by mocking Sidarth, Allen "demeaned only himself..."

With the video of Allen's remarks available around the globe via Youtube.com and other Web sites, the Virginia controversy became one of the most blogged-about topics on the Internet, according to the Technorati Web site, which tracks entries on 51.3 million blogs.

That thrust Sidarth into the national spotlight with several major newspapers and television including CNN interviewing him.

"I think he was doing it because he could, and I was the person of colour there and it was useful for him in inciting his audience," Sidarth told the Washington Post. "I'm disgusted he would use my race in a political context."

Sanjay Puri, the leader of the nation's largest Indian political action committee and a long time Allen supporter, telephoned him Tuesday to express the deep hurt his recent remarks have created in the Indian American Community.

"We stressed to the Senator that the Indian American community is very upset, and frankly very angry about his statements. The senator pledged to have a full and open in person dialogue on this matter," he stated after the call.

Jay Chaudhuri, president of the Indian-American Leadership Initiative (IALI), an organisation that supports the Democratic party, issued a statement asking Allen 'to explain himself" and demanding an apology to the Indian American community.

Steve Mukherjee, a spokesman for the Washington chapter of the Association of Indians in America, said Allen's comments were "hurtful," and he chided the senator for not being more sensitive.

But rival Indian American Republican Council (IARC) chairman Dr. R. Vijay said, "It's disappointing to see Jim Webb using an Indian American volunteer in a demeaning fashion in order to garner attention to his campaign."

"We believe there are pressing issues facing Virginia and our nation, from the war on terrorism to the challenges in the Middle East. Jim Webb needs to engage in these issues instead of attempting to smear the reputation of a respected leader, " he said.

Another Allen supporter, Sudhakar Shenoy, an Indian business executive from Fairfax who has known him for years, said the comments, though careless, do not reflect what is inside the senator's heart.

He "has been an incredible friend to Indians" and is not a racist. "I'd stake everything I have that George is not that kind of a guy," Shenoy said.