Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC), well known for stoking controversies with his remarks on contentious issues, has hit the headlines again for his seemingly “racist” comparison of different Indian ethnicities with those of the West.
“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 the South look like Africa,” Sam Pitroda said in an interview with The Statesman.
PM Modi Reacts To Sam Pitroda’s Comments
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Telangana on Wednesday, hit out at Congress over Pitroda’s remarks accusing him of ” insulting people of India on the basis of skin colour”.
“I want to ask a serious question from you all. I am very angry today if someone abuses me I can bear it but today, Shehjade philosopher had crossed the limit. Will the colour of our skin decide our ability now? They are insulting the people of India on the basis of skin colour. I will not tolerate the insult of my fellow Indians.” he said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reacted to Pitroda’s remarks urging him to understand India a little better.
“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!” Sarma wrote in an X post.
Congress Distances Itself From Sam Pitroda’s Comments
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to microblogging site X and stated that the party “dissociates itself from the unacceptable analogies” made by Sam Pitroda.
“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,” Tharoor said.
Take A Look At Sam Pitroda’s Controversial Comments-
Inheritance Tax Row
Last month, Pitroda had stirred a political row with his ‘US has inheritance tax’ remark, which put the Congress party in a soup.
Pitroda had commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘redistribution of wealth remark’ stating that the United States has a concept of inheritance tax, which means that 55% of a person’s wealth is handed over to the government and not their children and suggested the implementation of a similar system in India.
While the Congress was quick to distance itself from Pitroda’s “opinions”, the statement soon snowballed into a massive row with PM Modi directly attacking the party for looting people “Zindagi ke saath bhi, Zindagi ke baad bhi.”
When Pitroda Questioned Ram Mandir Construction
In June 2023, while speaking at an event in the US, Pitroda had said that no one in India talks about inflation, employment, and education and only discusses Ram, Hanuman, and Mandir.
“When the entire nation is hung up on Ram Temple and Ram Janmabhoomi, it bothers me…To me, religion is something very personal, and national issues are education, employment, growth, the economy, inflation, health, the environment, and pollution. But no one speaks about it,” he had said.
Middle Class People Should Not Be Selfish
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, during a TV interview, Pitroda had said that the middle class should pay more taxes to guarantee a minimum income for poor households, asking them not to be “selfish.”
When Sam Pitroda Downplayed 1984 Sikh Riots
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP claimed that “instructions” for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots came from Rajiv Gandhi, Pitroda, a close aide to the former Prime Minister, denied the charge but had said, “Ab kya hai ’84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. Aapne kya kiya?”
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