PANAJI: Goa minister Vijai Sardesai sparked a controversy on Saturday by saying domestic tourists as "scum of the earth" in reference to a video of a tourist urinating on a popular road from a bus.

Goa's agricultural minister clarified later that his comment was taken out of context and that it was directed at a "certain section" of the people. He also said that he stands unapologetically.”

"The people of Goa are disgusted with a few tourists, who come and use Goa as a dumping ground and who create a nuisance. There are several instances, one of which is a video which has gone viral of a tourist urinating from the bus on one of Goa's most popular and well-done roads from Miramar to Dona Paula. So what I am speaking for, I am speaking for Goa," Sardesai said, in a fresh video released to the media on Saturday.

"People of Goa believe, that a small section of the 6.5 million tourists who have come to Goa have created the biggest nuisance. These people have no civic sense. They are the ones creating the maximum garbage and maximum nuisance in Goa. So there is a general feeling among the people of Goa, that we need to re-orient our tourism to what it was before," he said.

Sardesai has also stoked controversy by denigrating the credentials of tourists visiting Goa and accusing north Indians of trying to convert Goa into another Harayana.