A U.S. diplomat's remarks calling Indian Tamils "dark" and "dirty" has national leaders calling for her to be expelled from the country.



Maureen Chao, an American consul diplomat in India, shocked students at SRM University in southern India Friday when she recounted her first trip to the country in 1989.



"I was on a 24-hour trip from Delhi to Orissa. But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach the destination...and my skin became dirty and dark like the Tamilians," Chao told students, according to the Hindustan Times.



Chao's comments enraged the Tamil community, an Indian ethnic group, with leaders calling for her to be kicked out of the country.



"This remark which smacks of racism is highly condemnable," said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a letter to the U.S. consul obtained by The Hindu.



"I would like to request you to impress upon Ms. Maureen Chao that she has to withdraw this remark and also apologize for having made such a comment on the Tamils," Jayalalithaa said.



Other political groups, including the Communist Party of India, called for Chao's withdrawal from the consulate.



"The ministry of foreign affairs should call her in person to express its opposition and expel her immediately from the country," said S. Ramadoss, founder of the PMK political group, to the Times of India.



The U.S. Consulate immediately issued an apology of sorts following the uproar over Chao's comments but did not indicate whether she would remain in her assignment.



"Ms. Chao made an inappropriate comment," read a post on the consulate's website. "Ms. Chao deeply regrets if her unfortunate remarks offended anyone, as that was certainly not her intent."



Chao did not outright say she was sorry for what she said.