Controversial remarks, Sam Pitroda resigns as Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress
Pitroda has raised a controversy following his recent racist remarks
Controversial remarks, Sam Pitroda resigns as Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress
New Delhi: Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned as the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress after his controversial remarks spurred the BJP to label the party “racist”. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge had accepted Pitroda’s decision. “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,” Ramesh said in his post.
The development came after Pitroda’s choice of ethnic and racial identities like Chinese, Arabs, Whites and Africans at a podcast to describe how Indians from different parts of the country look triggered a political firestorm. The Congress swiftly distanced itself from his words, calling the remarks “most unfortunate and unacceptable”.
With campaigning in full swing ahead of the fourth phase of polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s all-out attack on the Congress on Pitroda’s analogy and asserted that people would not tolerate the attempt to insult them on the basis of their skin colour. At his rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Modi said he is livid with the racial profiling of Indians by the US-based “philosopher and uncle of ‘Shehzada'”.
As the row erupted, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X: “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.”
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