The World Cup-winning former France international left Arsenal for Camp Nou in 2000 but spent only one year there before returning to the Premier League with Chelsea.
Petit, 45, has explained how the internal tensions in the team and external tensions with regards to wanting to become an independent nation outside of Spain forced him out of Barca.
"I arrived at a very bad time. There was a war in the dressing room between Dutch and Catalan players," Petit told BBC.
"Every day I was dealing with things I wasn't supposed to do. As soon as I arrived people said 'don't try to learn Castilian [Spanish], you have to speak Catalan'.
"I said 'I'm in Spain, no?' and they said 'no, you're in Catalunya'. I'm fed up with that kind of thing.
"Politics and nationalism was too much for me in the dressing room. I was so happy to join Barcelona but I just wanted to concentrate on football.
"I understand their identity but when it's too much, it's very close to racism. We're talking about football - not religion or politics. I wanted to leave. I thought I made a big mistake."
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