Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda stepped down from his post on Wednesday evening, hours after his controversial analogy to depict India’s diversity triggered a political firestorm. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted his resignation, party general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said.
These remarks were blown out of proportion soon after the BJP termed his comments as “racist” and asserted that people will not tolerate the attempt to insult them on the basis of their skin colour. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself led its attack on these remarks.
The Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, terming them “unfortunate” and “unacceptable”. The development came after Sam Pitroda, in an attempt to emphasise the diversity of India, said people in “East look like Chinese and in the south look like Africans.”
“People in the East look Chinese, people in the West look like Arab, people in the North like, maybe, White, and people in the South look like African,” Pitroda said in an interview to The Statesman.
Reacting sharply to the remarks, Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday said that the people of the country will not tolerate insults on the basis of the colour of the skin.
Addressing a rally in Warangal, PM Modi said, “‘Shehzade aapko jawaab dena padega’ (The prince will have to answer). My country will not tolerate the disrespect of my countrymen on the basis of their skin colour; Modi will never tolerate this.”
“I was thinking a lot about (President) Droupadi Murmu who has a very good reputation and is the daughter of 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,” PM Modi further 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,” PM added.