(Image source from: NJ.com)

First Sikh-American Attorney General of the United States Gurbir Grewal on Thursday said he was racially targeted by two radio hosts who kept on calling him the "turban man" on air.

Grewal said Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco, who host the "Dennis and Judi Show" on the radio NJ (New Jersey) 101.5FM, talked about Grewal's decision to suspend marijuana prosecutions in New Jersey and suddenly began calling him the "turban man".

Aggressively retorting to it, Grewal in a tweet said: "My name, for the record, is Gurbir Grewal. I'm the 61st Attorney General of NJ. I'm a Sikh American. I have 3 daughters. And yesterday, I told them to turn off the radio."

.@nj1015: My name, for the record, is Gurbir Grewal. I’m the 61st Attorney General of NJ. I’m a Sikh American. I have 3 daughters. And yesterday, I told them to turn off the radio.

— Gurbir S. Grewal (@GurbirGrewalNJ) July 26, 2018

After the state Senate approved his nomination this year, Grewal became the nation's first Sikh state attorney general. Grewal, who was born to Indian immigrants in Jersey City was raised in the state's Hudson and Bergen counties.

"This is not the first indignity I've faced and it probably won't be the last. Sometimes, I endure it alone. Yesterday, all of New Jersey heard it. It's time to end small-minded intolerance," 44-year-old Grewal tweeted.

This is not the first indignity I’ve faced and it probably won’t be the last. Sometimes, I endure it alone. Yesterday, all of New Jersey heard it. It’s time to end small-minded intolerance. It’s an issue I addressed at @APAICS conference this May: pic.twitter.com/XnxJp53cxv

— Gurbir S. Grewal (@GurbirGrewalNJ) July 26, 2018

Maloy started the show - "You know the attorney general guy? I'm never going to know his name, I'm just gonna say the guy with the turban."

"Turban man!" Franco repeated in a sing-song tone. "If it offends you, then don't wear the turban, man, and I'll remember your name," Malloy said, as both the hosts laughed.

"But Turban Man - is that highly offensive? To me? No. To people who wear turbans, could be," said Franco.

Malloy followed, "Could be. But if you called me Baseball Hat Man and

I was in a culture where no one wears baseball hats, should I be offended?"

"Uh, no. I would say no," Franco replied.

"So, anyway. The attorney general - Turban Man - says he's not going to prosecute pot things until September," Malloy said, laughing during the conversation.

Over their "xenophobic and racist" comments, the incident and the hosts have drawn severe criticism from politicians and netizens.

The radio station later tweeted that it is aware of the "offensive comments" made by Malloy and Franco during the broadcast. "We have taken immediate action and have taken them off the air until further notice. We are investigating the matter and will have a further comment shortly," it said in the tweet.

By Sowmya Sangam