New Delhi: Hours after he faced a backlash for his comments on India’s “diversity”, Sam Pitroda Wednesday resigned from his position as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress.
A close aide of the Gandhi family across two generations, Pitroda took charge of the department in June 2017.
“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 incharge of communications Jairam Ramesh announced on X, formerly Twitter.
Earlier in the day, the Congress had immediately distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks earlier in the day, terming them as “unfortunate” and “unacceptable”.
In an interview with The Statesman last week, the Congress party’s overseas head had said that the people in eastern India look like the “Chinese”, those in the west look like “Arabs”, those in the north like “white” people, while those in the south like people from “Africa”.
Pitroda, 82, made the comparisons while talking about how India was a “shining example of democracy in the world”.
“We have survived for 75 years in a very happy environment where people live together, leaving a few fights here and there,” he said, adding, “We hold a country together as diverse as India where in the east people look like Chinese, people in west look like Arab, people in north look like white and in south look like Africa (sic). Doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters.”
While the Congress was quick to distance itself from the remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi latched on Pitroda’s remarks to target Rahul Gandhi.
“Shehzade, aapko jawaab dena padega (Prince, you’ll have to give an answer),” Modi said at a rally in Telangana, adding that the country would not tolerate “disrespect to countrymen on the basis of their skin colour and Modi will never tolerate this”.
“Today I found out why the Congress was trying so hard to defeat Droupadi Murmu, daughter of a tribal. Today I got to know that Shehzade’s uncle lives in America and that this uncle is his philosophical guide who has exposed his secret. He has 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,” he said.
This is the second controversy in as many months that has forced the Congress to disassociate itself from remarks made by the technocrat-politician.
Last month, the party found itself in a muddle after Pitroda, in another interview, cited the example of inheritance tax in some US states to suggest that Indians, too, should debate the issue. “In America… if one has $100 million worth of wealth, when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45 percent to his children… 55 percent is grabbed by the government,” Pitroda told ANI in an interview.
Dividing his time between the US and India, Pitroda had previously served as the chairman of the National Knowledge Commission and formally served as the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation. But, he is more widely known for ushering in India’s telecommunication revolution in the 1980s.
(Edited by Tony Rai)