- Monday, May 20, 2024
In an interview, Pitroda, in a bid to speak on India’s diversity, allegedly made racist remarks about how Indians look.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SAM PITRODA, who triggered a massive row this week by making controversial remarks on India’s diversity, on Wednesday (8) stepped down as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress which looks to reach out to the Indian diaspora. The development was announced on X by Jairam Ramesh, the communications in-charge of the opposition Indian National Congress and a parliamentarian. He said that Pitroda, 82, had resigned “of his own accord”.
The remarks made by Pitroda, who is known to be close to the Gandhi family, the power centre of the Congress party, came during a recent interview with The Statesman newspaper. There, while praising the Indian democracy’s survival for over seven decades and asserting that people of diversity live together happily in the country despite odd fights, Pitroda said the people on the eastern part of India look like Chinese, on the west like Arabs, on the north like white and on the south like Africans.
श्री सैम पित्रोदा ने अपनी मर्ज़ी से इंडियन ओवरसीज कांग्रेस के अध्यक्ष पद से इस्तीफ़ा देने का फ़ैसला किया है। कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष ने उनका इस्तीफ़ा स्वीकार कर लिया है।
Mr. Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 8, 2024
The opponent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by prime minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on Pitroda and the Congress party over the remarks and called it an insult to the countrymen.
Read: Modi, BJP blast Rahul Gandhi aide Sam Pitroda over ‘racist’ remarks against Indians
Modi called Pitroda the philosopher of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at an election rally in the southern state of Telangana and said he was very angry to hear such words. He also called the people to give a befitting reply.
"We could hold together a country as diverse as India, where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people on North look like maybe White and people in South look like Africa" 💀💀
(VC : @TheStatesmanLtd) pic.twitter.com/aPQUyJflag
— Darshan Pathak (@darshanpathak) May 8, 2024
“Can we decide a person’s merit based on skin colour?” Modi asked.
Read: What is US inheritance tax that Sam Pitroda mentioned to trigger a row
“Who permitted the shehzada to look down on my people like that? We will not accept this racist mentality.”
The Congress or India’s Grand-Old Party, distanced itself from Pitroda and said his remarks were “unfortunate and unacceptable”. Ramesh, who was responding to Pitroda’s comments on social media, also said that the opposition party “rejects these analogies”.
My statement on Mr. Sam Pitroda’s unacceptable analogies on India’s diversity https://t.co/nDrecG5rDt pic.twitter.com/wyuzu6UuLh
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 8, 2024
The Congress took a similar stance when Pitroda triggered another row less than a month ago by remarking on inheritance tax in some states in the US.
“If one has 100 million USD [United States Dollar] worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45% to his children, 55% is grabbed by the government,” Asian News International quoted Pitroda as saying in an interview on April 24.
“That’s an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair.”
Modi had pounced upon him on that occasion too claiming that the Congress was planning to snatch people’s private assets and their children’s rights.
It was Ramesh who played the role of the firefighter on that occasion as well saying his party has no plans to introduce such a tax in India.
