Reacting to protests by Congress and Nationalist Congress Party workers against its member of Parliament Hema Malini, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said she had made her comment on North Indians in a lighter vein and did not mean it.

"There is nothing serious that should be read into it. The Congress and NCP are only raising it as an issue because they have run out of issues in this election," BJP sources said in Mumbai.

The actor-turned-politician faced the ire of Congress and NCP workers who burnt her effigies and demanded an public apology from her for her statement on North Indians.

When asked at an election rally about complaints from the North Indian community that they were not being given fair treatment in Mumbai, she had said, "If they are unhappy, they should go back."