Washington, Aug. 17: Interrupting his Senate re-election campaign, Republican presidential hopeful George Allen yesterday met Indian-American community leaders for more than an hour to explain his side of the controversy over calling S.R. Sidarth, a 20 year-old American student of Indian descent, a “macaca”, a type of monkey.

Indian Americans, who met Allen at a hotel just outside Washington, appear to be willing to give the former Michigan governor — a supporter of the Indo-US nuclear deal and other Indian issues — the benefit of the doubt. Allen’s explanation is that he did not know the meaning of “macaca” and that he played on the word “Mohawk”, the nickname given by the Senator’s campaign staff for Sidarth after the style of his haircut.

Sanjay Puri, head of the US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), who led the Indian Americans to the meeting with Allen, told reporters: “If you read his comments in their totality, it becomes very clear no matter how you explain the phrasing, it is insensitive to a young kid who is of Indian-American descent.”

Puri said fences have been broken by his remarks and that the community will be “looking at his (Allen’s) actions in terms of working with us”.

Allen has mobilised Indian Americans, who are Republican activists, in his bid for damage control. The chairman of the Indian American Republican Council, Raghavendra Vijayanagar, came to the Senator’s rescue. “We don’t believe Senator George Allen was making a reference to the ethnicity of Jim Webb’s campaign volunteer. He has apologised for any misunderstanding this statement has caused. We do know that Senator Allen has worked closely with Indian Americans when he was (Virginia’s) governor and as US Senator, and he has always garnered strong support from the community”, Vijayanagar said.

Meanwhile, the Democrat challenging the Senator, Jim Webb, commented on the controversy for the first time, saying Allen “knew what he was saying” when he ridiculed Sidarth. Webb’s campaign said: “Allen’s apology was late and it was lame — an ‘I am sorry if he was offended’ act of non-contrition.”