Sam Pitroda resigns as Indian Overseas Congress chairperson, BJP leaders lash out over his controversial remarks

New Delhi [India], May 8 : Sam Pitroda, a long associate of the Congress party and the Gandhi family, is not new to controversies but this time his controversial remark regarding the appearance of Indians went beyond any damage control as the party was compelled to distance itself from what Pitroda said and BJP came out all guns blazing against the party terming his remarks "racist".
After his remarks caused a major political furore in election season and embarrassed the Congress, Sam Pitroda resigned as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress on Wednesday.
"Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X.
Pitroda stirred a major controversy in the middle of Lok Sabha polls and BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized on them to target the Congress.
Pitroda, in an interview with 'The Statesman', while reflecting upon the democracy in India said, "We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside few fights here and there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people in the East look like Chinese, people in the West look like Arab, people in the North look like white and maybe people in the South look like Africans."
He said the people of India respect different languages, religions, food and customs which vary from region to region. "That's the India that I believe in, where everybody has a place and everybody compromises a little bit," he said.
Jairam Ramesh said that the analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda are "most unfortunate and unacceptable".
"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," he said in a post on X.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders slammed Pitroda over his "racist" remarks with PM Modi referring to them in his election rallies.
He said people of the country will not tolerate insults on the basis of the colour of their skin and demanded an answer from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"'Shehzade aapko jawaab dena padega'. My country will not tolerate the disrespect of my countrymen on the basis of their skin colour and Modi will never tolerate this," PM Modi said in his rally at Warangal.
"I was thinking a lot that (President) Droupadi Murmu who has a very good reputation and is the daughter of an Adivasi 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," he said.
"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...Where will they take the country? No matter what skin colour we have, we are the people who worship Lord Krishna," he added.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi slammed Pitroda over his remark and said that the latter has given a very "objectionable" statement on India, its culture and the identity of the people.
Addressing a press conference here today, Trivedi said, "This is the battle of the idea of India on the question of India's identity and its existence. This is the foreign mindset that was infiltrated in our minds by the Mughals and Britishers, that we all are outsiders and India was just an inn. Congress' mindset is clear, their concept is 'Bharat ko andar se todo, bahar se jodo."
Continuing his attacks, Sudhanshu Trivedi said that gradually, the mask of Congress is falling, both inside and outside the country.
"Today, Sam Pitroda, for whom Rahul Gandhi is a disciple, has given a very objectionable statement on India, its culture, India's identity, and the identity of its people. It seems that this subject isn't limited only to elections or politics but to the existence of India, as they are questioning the very identity of the country," Sudhanshu said.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also joined in the criticism alleging that these were racist comments by a man who is the guru of Rahul Gandhi.
"It is the words and thinking of Rahul Gandhi only because these days Rahul is also playing the politics of divide and rule to such an extent that first they divide on caste and language lines and now they are doing Indians vs Indians. To make comments like Indians are like Chinese. Isn't this a racist comment? Isn't this insulting? Indians are looking like Africans. Isn't it the comment on the entire South people? By making these comments, it shows that Congress' "Mohabbat ki dukaan" actually has "Nafrat ka saaman". Unless Congress gives a complete explanation and sacks Sam Pitroda, this should be taken as the statement of the Congress," Poonawalla said.
Pitroda had earlier courted controversies with his remarks on sensitive issues. The most recent was when he advocated for an inheritance tax-like law in the country.
Emphasising the need for policy towards wealth redistribution, Pitroda elaborated on the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in America.
"In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has 100 million USD worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. 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," Pitroda said.
"In India, you don't have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing...So these are the kinds of issues people will have to debate and discuss. When we talk about redistributing wealth, we are talking about new policies and new programs that are in the interest of the people and not in the interest of the super-rich only," he added.
PM Modi also hit out at the remarks made by Pitroda about an 'inheritance tax' like law saying that the Congress does not want the countrymen to pass on their property to their children.
"The advisor to the royal family's prince has said that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class. Now these people have gone one step further than this, Congress says that it will impose an Inheritance Tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. The property you have accumulated through your hard work will not be given to your children," the Prime Minister had said earlier.