Expressing India?s disquiet over the crackdown on protests organised by ethnic Indians in Malaysia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave a guarded response stating that the government was concerned whenever people of the country were in trouble anywhere in the world.

At a joint press conference with the leaders of the European Union (EU), Singh said, ?Whenever Indian citizens abroad or people of Indian origin are adversely affected, it?s a cause of concern.?

He was replying to a question on whether the government was planning to take up the issue of alleged victimisation of peaceful protesters with the Malaysian government. ?This is matter which does concern us,? he said.

Earlier in the Lok Sabha, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said in response to a question, ?I am in touch with the Malaysian government. We are going to take up the issue with them. We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter. ?

At least 80 ethnic Indians were charged in Malaysia early this week for taking part in a rally to demand equal rights in the Muslim-majority country. About 10,000 minority ethnic Indians took out a rally in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters, many of them Tamils with their roots in Tamil Nadu.

The issue turned into a controversy after a Malaysian minister told DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi to mind his own business, when he expressed outrage on the developments in Malaysia and demanded New Delhi?s intervention at the diplomatic level.

Ethnic Indians in Malaysia have been agitating against Malaysian government?s affirmative action policies that favour majority ethnic Malays. However, it is not the DMK alone, which has been seeking intervention from the Central government.

The issue has brought the BJP on the same platform with the DMK, with the former also demanding that the Manmohan Singh government take up the issue with Malaysia. The BJP, however, are terming it as an ?attack on Hindus?.

?Temples have been razed. The Hindus are being treated in such an inhuman fashion, the government must go to the commonwealth? BJP MP VK Malhotra said.