By Arun Kumar,IANS,
Washington : Controversial American talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who fashions himself as the new ‘face’ of the US Republican Party, has raised another storm by calling workers handling outsourced jobs in India as “slumdogs”.
Limbaugh, who has been accused of making insensitive remarks from women to disabled to homosexuals, hurled the epithet picked up from the Danny Boyle’s smash-hit film “Slumdog Millionaire” at a discussion last week on outsourcing of jobs from America.
“There’s a reason (these jobs) aren’t coming back. They’re outsourced for a reason, an economic reason, and they’re not coming back,” Limbaugh said, in response to a caller named Terry from Ohio, who had not even referenced India.
“If you’re sitting out waiting for a job that’s now being done by a slumdog in India, and you’re waiting for that job to be cancelled, for the slumdog to be thrown out of work, and you to get the job, it ain’t going to happen. It’s not the way economics works.”
The garrulous Limbaugh’s long career has been littered with controversial remarks. He has mocked President Barack Obama on his programme and ridiculed actor Michael Fox’s Parkinson’s disease, accusing him of exaggerating the effects of the illness.
Limbaugh, who hosts a three-hour daily show, is considered a Republican mascot and is the country’s wealthiest radio jock. He is frequently credited with reviving AM radio in the US and some have even pushed him to take over the leadership of the Republican Party.
In January, as Obama prepared to be sworn in to office, Limbaugh famously uttered, “I hope he fails”, setting off a controversy.
And two years ago, he was chastising ‘American liberals’ for rooting for the failure of George W. Bush, calling them traitors.