Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday compared Indians from different parts of the nation to Chinese, Arabs, Whites and Africans while talking about diversity and democracy in India during an interview.
“We are a shining example of democracy in the world…we could hold country together as diverse as India where people in East look like Chinese, people in West look like Arab, people in North look like maybe white and people in South look like Africa.
Doesn’t matter, we are all brothers and sisters,” said the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress.
Soon after the clip of the remark went viral on social media, PM Modi lashed out at Pitroda during his Telangana rally. “I am very angry today… I am very angry with the remark made by Sam Pitroda”. The PM added, “We will not accept this racist mentality”.
“I can tolerate it when abuses are hurled at me, but not when they are hurled at my people. Can we decide a person’s merit based on skin colour? Who permitted the ‘Shehzada’ (Rahul Gandhi) to look down on my people like that? We will not accept this racist mentality!” said PM Modi.
The PM also linked Pitroda’s statement to Congress’s decision of fielding a candidate against Droupadi Murmu for the presidential election in 2022.
“I was thinking a lot that Droupadi Murmu who has a very good reputation and is the daughter of Adiwasi family, then why is Congress trying so hard to defeat her but today I got to know the reason. I got to know that there is an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of ‘Shehzada’ and just like the third umpire in cricket this ‘Shehzada’ takes advice from the third umpire. This philosophical uncle said that those who have black skin are from Africa. This means that you are abusing several people of the country on the basis of their skin colour,” PM Modi said.
Earlier, reacting to the racist remark of Sam Pitroda, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “I am from North East and I look like an Indian.”
The tweet posted by Assam chief minister read: “Sam bhai, I am from the North East and I look like an Indian. We are a diverse country – we may look different but we are all one. Hamare desh ke bare mein thoda to samajh lo! (Have some understanding about our country).”
Kangana Ranaut, BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, reacted sharply to Pitroda’s remark, calling it a “racists and divisive jibes for Indians”.
“Sam Pitroda is Rahul Gandhi’s mentor. Listen to his racist & divisive jibes for Indians. Their whole ideology is about divide & rule. It’s sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African. Shame on Congress!” Kangana wrote on X.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Pitroda’s comment, saying “he doesn’t understand the country”. The BJP leader also said Pitrodia is the reason why Rahul Gandhi “speaks nonsense”.
“People in East look like Chinese, in South look like Africans…” remark, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad says, “It becomes clear again and again that what does Sam Pitroda understand about India. It is clear that he is a failure. He doesn’t understand the country. He is Rahul Gandhi’s advisor. I can now understand why Rahul Gandhi speaks nonsense…This is the frustration of defeat. They neither understand India nor its heritage,” Ravi Shankar Prasad told news agency ANI.
Calling Pitrodia “Shakuni” of the Congress party, former Congress leader and BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan slammed his comment as “vile and racist”.
He said the senior Congress leader’s remark “exposes very clearly the bigoted & divisive mindset of the Congress leadership”.
“Vile and racist statement by the Shakuni of the Congress party, Sam Pitroda has demeaned and insulted every one of our 140 crore Indians today. This also exposes very clearly the bigoted & divisive mindset of the Congress leadership…What kind of a perverse and parochial mindset is this?…It reflects the diseased and divisive mindset of the Congress party,” Kesavan said.
The Congress has dissociated itself from the Pitroda’s analogies, calling them “most unfortunate and unacceptable”.
“The analogies drawn by Mr Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies,” Jiram Ramesh, Congress’s general secretary in-charge communications, posted on X.
This is not the first time the Congress leader has triggered a political firestorm with his remarks.
Pitroda had earlier expressed his support for the idea of an inheritance tax, drawing inspiration from the American system.
He explained that in the United States, when a wealthy individual passes away, only a portion of their assets can be transferred to their children, while the government claims a significant share. Pitroda suggested that adopting a similar approach in India would be fair and beneficial for the public.
Pitroda’s “inheritance tax” remark led to the BJP and PM Modi attacking Congress on the issue of “wealth redistribution”.
PM Modi seized on his statement to step up a blistering attack on the “wealth redistribution” issue, saying “zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi” is the opposition party’s mantra to “loot” people.
Later, the Congress party clarified its stance saying that sensationalising these remarks was an attempt at diverting attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “malicious” poll campaign.
Pitroda also clarified that he had only mentioned the US inheritance tax as an example during a normal conversation on TV. He emphasised that his comments had nothing to do with the policy of any party, including the Congress.
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