Sam Pitroda steps down as Indian Overseas Congress chairman after row over ethnicity remarks
Sam Pitroda steps down as Indian Overseas Congress chairman after row over ethnicity remarks
Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned from his post after he quoted another controversy with his ‘racist’ remarks in an interview to The Statesman.
Pitroda’s resignation comes amid a barrage of condemnation from the ruling BJP over his remarks.
In a post on ‘X’, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision.”
In a recent interview with The Statesman, Pitroda said, “We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside a few fights here and there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the east look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like white and maybe people on the South look like Africans… doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters.”
“We all respect different languages, religions, different looks, customs and food. That’s the India I believe in where everybody has a place,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks 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,” Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a video message.
It may be mentioned that Pitroda last month had stirred a controversy over his remarks on “inheritance tax in US”.
“In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has USD 100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 percent to his children, 55 percent is grabbed by the government. That’s an interesting law. It says you in your generation made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair,” Pitroda in an interview to a news agency was quoted as saying.
Pitroda had said his statement on inheritance tax in the US was “twisted” to divert attention from what “lies” Prime Minister Narendra Modi is spreading about the Congress manifesto.
The Congress then had said his views did not reflect the position of the party.