The organisers of a haka that has been described as racist against Indians have apologized for overstepping in using the cultural art form for political critique.

Last month's performance at the Tainui Regional Kapa Haka was ostensibly meant to challenge ACT Party's Kiwi-Indian MP Parmjeet Parmar on indigenous rights. But it has been criticized for mocking Indian identity.

Former Te Party Maori president Che Wilson organised that haka performance. On Thursday, he apologized over email to a Wellington-based Indian diaspora group, NZ Council of Sikh Affairs.

Speaking to Awaaz on May 1, Wilson confirmed he sent the apology in reply to an email in which the Sikh association had expressed concerns over the performance.

Directly addressing a political leader in haka is not unusual. But explicitly referencing the ethnicity of another politician in that framing is not common practice.

The haka featured specific elements, including the phrase “purari karikari iniana”, translated as “bloody curry-eating Indians”, along with gestures like sitting cross-legged, folded hands, and mannerisms seen as imitating speech and movement.

Gurtej Singh of the NZ Council of Sikh Affairs says Wilson has already met him and other diaspora members in Hamilton, with a hui now planned in Waikato within the next two to three weeks aimed at dialogue and reconciliation.

In a statement released Wednesday, the diaspora group said it had since received an apology from Wilson.

“The NZ Council of Sikh Affairs acknowledges the apology received from Che Wilson… raising concern about the hurt caused to members of the Indian community,” the statement said.

The diaspora group said its concern was not with haka as a form of expression, but with what happens “when political critique takes on racial or communal meaning”.

“When that happens, the matter shifts beyond political critique and can cause wider community hurt,” the statement read.