Congress leader Sam Pitroda resigned as president of the Indian Overseas Congress on Wednesday after his controversial comments prompted the BJP to call him “racist.”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said party president Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted Pitroda’s decision.
Mr. Sam Pitroda has decided to voluntarily resign as President of the Indian Overseas Congress. “His decision was taken by the Congress leader,” Ramesh said in a statement.
Pitrota, who was president of the Overseas Indian Congress, sparked controversy with his comments in a podcast describing the appearance of Indians from different regions, citing racial and ethnic identities such as Chinese, African, Arab, and white. A Country.
The veteran leader is an adviser to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has close ties with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and has accompanied him on foreign trips.
With the BJP making Pitruda’s comments a poll issue, the Congress quickly distanced itself from Pitruda’s comments, calling them “extremely unfortunate and unacceptable”.
As campaigning intensified ahead of the fourth phase of polling, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s all-out attack on the Congress, relying on Pitruda’s analogy and calling his comments “racist”. He claimed that people will not tolerate attempts to insult them based on the color of their skin.
At rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi said he was outraged by the US-based “philosopher and prince uncle”‘s racist characterization of Indians, and Draupadi Murmu said Congress’ opposition was linked to the presidential election due to its dark nature In his skin he was considered an “African”.
“We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people live together, although there have been conflicts here and there,” Pitruda said in the podcast.
“We can hold together a country as diverse as India. Easterners may appear Chinese, Westerners Arab, Northerners white, and Southerners African.” “Respect different customs and different foods,” he said.
Earlier in the campaign, the mention of the US inheritance tax during the Congress manifesto debate in the Lok Sabha gave the ruling BJP a strong incentive to accuse the opposition of stealing government assets as part of its “policy of wealth redistribution.”. Citizens are watching.
When the controversy erupted on Wednesday, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh told X: “The analogies given by Mr. Sam Pitroda in a podcast to explain India’s diversity are very unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely disassociates itself from these analogies.” Ramesh then announced that the Congress leader had accepted Pitroda’s resignation.
The BJP rejected the Congress defection with controversial remarks, noting at a press conference that Pitroda had previously made “derogatory and derogatory” remarks, including on terrorism and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
There was also a ‘Hua du Hua’ (so what) response to the 1984 communal violence and a ‘It always happens’ question on the Pulwama attack as the country prepares for the 2019 general elections. There were huge lines.
