"Condemn racist remarks, will seek legal opinion" says Manipur CM Biren Singh on Sam Pitroda's remarks
May 08, 2024
Imphal (Manipur) [India], May 8 : Soon after Congress leader Sam Pitroda courted a new controversy by tagging people residing in various regions of India with a certain facial feature, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said he is weighing in legal options to book the former.
"How can he make such a racist comment? I highly condemn this type of racist words used by him. I will consult the legal expert if we can sue against the remark given by the Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress...," Biren Singh told ANI.
"This is very irresponsible and he exposed that he does not know the geographical composition of India. Congress has been doing this 'divide and rule' policy. How can he say that the people from the Northeast are like Chinese? We are a part of India, we do not belong to China. We are just Indians, all the Northeast people live together," the Manipur chief minister said.
In an interview with 'The Statesman', Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda trying to explain to India's diversity said, "We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the east look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like white and maybe people on the South look like Africans."
The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit back at Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda over his 'racist' remarks.
The Congress party however distanced itself from Pitroda's remarks. In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The analogies drawn by 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."
From the BJP side, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was one of the first to react when he took to X and slammed Pitroda over his remarks.
"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. Understand a little about our country!" Assam CM wrote on his X timeline.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also took on the Congress for the comments made by Pitroda.
"Rahul Gandhi's Chief Adviser says, South Indians look like Africans, all North-Eastern people look Chinese, West Indians are like Arabs & North Indian are whites. The tone & tenor of this statement is to divide India.. Shameful," he posted on X.
Pitroda had earlier also courted controversies with his remarks on sensitive issues. The recent was when he had advocated an inheritance tax-like law in the country. However, the Congress had officially distanced itself from Pitroda's comments saying that they did not reflect the view of the party at all times. Now the Congress overseas Chairman has put the Congress in a soup with his latest comments.