Sam Pitroda resigns as chairman of Indian Overseas Congress after backlash over racist analogy

Congress leader Sam Pitroda, whose latest remark comparing East Indians with Chinese and South Indians with Africans, sparked a massive row, has resigned as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress.

Pitroda’s decision was announced by Congress’ communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh on X on Wednesday (May 8).

“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,” Ramesh said in a post.

In a recent interview with The Statesman, Pitroda in a bid to praise India’s diversity, had commented that it remains united even though those living in the east resemble the Chinese, and those in the south share traits with Africans. The statement, which went viral on social media, sparked a massive outrage on with the BJP accusing Pitroda of racism.

The Congress had immediately distanced itself from Pitroda’s statement calling it “unfortunate”.

Congress distances itself, BJP launches blistering attack

The BJP dismissed the Congress' stand as meaningless as it cited Pitroda's close association with the Gandhi family and launched a blistering attack.

At his rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is livid with the racial profiling of Indians by the US-based "philosopher and uncle of shehzada (Rahul Gandhi)", and linked the Congress' opposition to Droupadi Murmu's presidential bid to its mindset, which saw her as an "African" because of her dark skin.

He asked the Congress chief ministers of Karnataka and Telangana, Siddaramaiah and A Revanth Reddy respectively, if they will accept "such an accusation".

The prime minister asked if Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will snap the DMK's ties with the Congress for Tamil pride. "Do they have the guts?" he asked.

What sparked the row?

Pitroda, an advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, 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 the country as diverse as India together. Where people in the east look like the Chinese, people in the west look like the Arabs, people in the north look like, maybe, white and people in the south look like Africans." "It does not matter. All of us are brothers and sisters. We respect different languages, different religions, different customs, different food," he said.

His controversial comments came soon after his reference to inheritance tax in the United States while discussing the Congress's Lok Sabha poll manifesto gave the ruling BJP a potent handle to accuse the opposition party of eying citizens' assets as part of its "redistribution of wealth" policy.

(With inputs from agencies)