Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned as president of the Overseas Indian Congress after his controversial comments prompted the BJP to label the party “racist”. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge accepted Pitroda’s decision.
“Mr. Sam Pitroda has decided to resign as President of the Overseas Indian Congress of his own free will. The Congress President has accepted his decision,” Ramesh said in his post.
The development came after Pitroda’s choice of ethnic and racial identities such as Chinese, Arabs, whites and Africans in a podcast to describe what Indians in different parts of the country look like sparked a political storm. Congress quickly distanced itself from his words, calling them “very unfortunate and unacceptable.”
With the campaign in full swing ahead of the fourth phase of elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s all-out attack on the Congress based on Pitroda’s analogy and asserted that people will not tolerate the attempt to insult them on the basis of his skin color.
At his rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Modi said he is furious with the racial profiling of Indians by “US-based philosopher and uncle of ‘Shehzada'”, and linked Congress’ opposition to Droupadi’s presidential candidacy. She murmured at his mentality, which saw her as “African” because of her dark skin.
When the dispute broke out, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on of these analogies”.
Ramesh later announced Pitroda’s decision to resign and that the Congress president had accepted it.
The BJP dismissed Congress’ disassociation with the controversial comments, pointing out in a press conference that Pitroda has a history of making “insulting and degrading” comments, including on terrorism and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
His “hua to hua” (so what) reaction to a question on the 1984 communal violence and his “happens all the time” reference to the Pulwama terror attack, both in 2019, when the country was gearing up for general elections, too They had caused major riots.
Early in the campaign, the BJP seized on Pitroda’s reference to inheritance tax in the United States as an “interesting law” while discussing Congress’ Lok Sabha election manifesto to accuse the opposition party of considering citizens’ assets as part of its “wealth redistribution” policy.
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