Congress leader Sam Pitroda sparked another controversy on Wednesday with his “people from the east look like the Chinese and people from the south look like Africa” comments, with the ruling BJP latching onto his “racist” comments and claiming who had exposed the “divisive” politics of the opposition party.
The Congress, however, distanced itself from Pitroda’s comments, calling them unfortunate and unacceptable, and saying the party “completely dissociates itself” from the comments.
In a podcast, Pitroda, president of the Overseas Indian Congress, said: “We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, putting aside a few fights here and there.”
“We could hold together a country as diverse as India. Where people in the east look like Chinese, people in the west look Arab, people in the north look, perhaps, white, and people in the south look African. It doesn’t matter “We are all brothers and sisters. We respect different languages, different religions, different customs, different foods,” Pitroda said in the interview that was widely circulated on social media.
Dissociating himself from Pitroda’s remarks, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on completely dissociates from these analogies.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, latched on to Pitroda’s comments to attack the Congress and said the opposition party is increasingly unmasked as the Lok Sabha polls progress.
He claimed that Pitroda’s “racist” comments have betrayed Congress’ attempt to divide the country on the basis of race, religion and caste.
BJP leaders Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that Pitroda has highlighted the idea of India that Congress bigwigs like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi believe in.
Pitroda has been a “mentor” to Rahul Gandhi, who has often criticized Indian democracy and the country’s institutions during his foreign trips, Chandrasekhar said.
Trivedi said the ongoing Lok Sabha polls have now become a battle between those under the influence of a foreign mindset in their definition of India and an India that is “aatmanirbhar” (self-reliant) and brimming with self-pride.
“Sam, shame-roll for you!” Union Minister Anurag Thakur said in X.
“While all Indians look like Indians to us, the Congress insists on categorizing them on foreign ethnic lines like Chinese, Arabs, whites and Africans. Only a colonial-minded party like the Congress could indulge in such deplorable racism.
“Having failed to stir up division between the north and south, the Congress now seems determined to sow ethnic discord. It is only a matter of time before Shehzada, following in the footsteps of his mentor, champions this divisive strategy,” Thakur said . .
In the podcast interview to a media outlet, Pitroda said, “As a Gujarati, I love dosa, I love idli. That’s my food, which is no longer South Indian food. That’s India at its finest.” the one I believe, where everyone has a place and everyone compromises a little… That idea of India, which has its roots in democracy, freedom, brotherhood, is being challenged by the Ram temple and Ram Navami and the Prime Minister who goes to temples all the time and speaks Not as a national leader, but as a BJP leader.”
“That vision focuses on the Ram temple, the god, history, heritage, Bhagwan Hanuman, Bajrang Dal and all kinds of issues. I respect their vision,” he added.
“There is another group who say that our founding fathers fought against the British Raj not for a Hindu Rashtra, but for a secular nation. Pakistan decided to create a nation based on religion and let’s see what happened to them. We are a shining example of democracy.” the world,” Pitroda said.
Earlier, the Congress leader had sparked a controversy by talking about inheritance tax, which the BJP made a poll issue.
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