Finance Minister calls Sam Pitroda ‘racist’ — here’s the full statement and reactions from BJP leaders

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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“We could hold together a country as diverse as India — where people on the East look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arabs, people on the North look like maybe White, and people in South India look like Africans. It doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters,”  Indian Overseas Congress leader Sam Pitorda said in an interview with The Statesman.

The comments have become the centre of yet another controversy at the peak of India’s election season.  Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have taken the opportunity to escalate their rhetoric against the rival Congress party.

“I am from South India. I look Indian! My team has enthusiastic members from north east India. They look Indian! My colleagues from west India look Indian!
But, for the racist who is the mentor of Rahul Gandhi, we all look African, Chinese, Arab and the White! Thanks for revealing your mindset and your attitude. I.N.D.I alliance’s shame!” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman via a post on X (the online social network formerly called Twitter).

Pitroda’s comments have become the centre of a debate for a second time within a month. In April, he had suggested inheritance tax as one way to redistribute wealth to the poorer sections of the Indian society. However, the Congress manifesto did not promise an inheritance tax.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hoping for a third straight term in office, rallied against the idea of an inheritance tax suggested by Pitroda. Modi warned voters that if Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, wins the election, the incoming government would snatch people’s hard-earned savings and give it away to ‘infiltrators’.

Now, Pitroda’s attempts to highlight India’s diversity has become the reason for a political backlash. “It becomes clear again and again that what does Sam Pitroda understand about India. It is clear that he is a failure. He doesn’t understand the country. He is Rahul Gandhi’s advisor. I can now understand why Rahul Gandhi speaks nonsense…This is the frustration of defeat. They neither understand India nor its heritage,” said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“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! (Please understand a bit about India),” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on X.

“Very unfortunate, utter nonsense. We all live together in India. We are all indians. I feel very very sad and condemn this kind of comment by Congress. They should apologise. The Northeast is part of India. Who is he? Why did he say so? Congress should apologise,” added Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Kangana Ranaut, actor and BJP candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh said, “Sam Pitroda is Rahul Gandhi’s mentor. Listen to his racist and divisive jibes for Indians. Their whole ideology is about divide & rule. It’s sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African.”

The Congress has distanced itself from Pitroda’s remark and termed it ‘unfortunate and unacceptable’. “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,” party’s media in-charge Jairam Ramesh said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow