Sam Pitroda Resigns After Controversial Racist Remarks Stir Trouble for Congress
Sam Pitroda, the veteran Congressman and the party’s overseas unit chief has stepped down from his post. Amid a huge political row over his controversial remarks that came in the midst of the massive seven-phase election. Leaders of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had accused the Congress of pursuing divisive practices calling his comments racist.
The announcement about Mr. Pitroda’s resignation came in a terse post on social media from the party’s communications-in-charge, Jairam Ramesh. “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,” the post read.
In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, Mr. Pitroda described India as a diverse country. Where people in the east look like the Chinese, people in the west look like Arabs. People in the north look like maybe white, and people in the south look like Africa.
Sam Pitroda Resigns After Controversial Racist Remarks Stir Trouble for Congress
The Congress had earlier distanced itself from Mr. Pitroda’s remark, which was deemed “most unfortunate and unacceptable.” The party is still firefighting over Mr. Pitroda’s earlier comment on inheritance tax and found itself in the middle of a fresh row that posed a challenge to allies like MK Stalin’s DMK.
Mr. Pitroda’s out-of-turn comments have proved a challenge for the Congress amid the election. Last month, he made a comment on inheritance tax in the United States as an example of “new policies” that can help prevent the concentration of wealth and should be discussed and debated. The Congress, he had added, always helps people at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
This had drawn a fierce attack from the BJP. PM Modi had remarked that if elected, the Congress would redistribute the personal wealth of people among “infiltrators” and won’t even spare the mangalsutras of women.
