Congress leader Sam Pitroda has stirred a major controversy after remarking that Indians in the East resemble the Chinese while those in the South look like Africans, drawing swift criticism from the BJP.
In an interview with The Statesman, Pitroda, while discussing India's status as a democratic example, said the country's people "survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together leaving a few fights here and there."
"We could hold together a country as diverse as India -- where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people on North look like maybe White and people in South look like Africans. It doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters," Pitroda said during the interview.
He added, "We all respect different languages, different religions, customs and food. That's the India that I believe in, where everybody has a place and everybody compromises a little bit."
The Congress immediately distanced itself from Pitroda's remarks, terming them "unacceptable".
Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "The analogies drawn by Mr Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India's diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies."
Reacting to Pitroda's controversial remarks, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a post on X, "Sam bhai, I am from the Northeast and I look like an Indian. We are a diverse country - we may look different, but we are all one. Hamare desh ke bare mein thoda to samajh lo! (Please understand at least something about our country)"
Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut lashed out at the Congress and condemned Pitroda's comments as "racist and divisive". In a jab, she called him Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's mentor.
"Their whole ideology is about divide and rule. It's sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African. Shame on Congress!" she tweeted.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad also disparaged Pitroda and said that the "diverse India" comparison the Congress leader drew further illustrates that he has no understanding of the country or its culture.
"It is clear that he [Pitroda] is a failure. He doesn't understand the country. He is Rahul Gandhi's advisor. I can now understand why Rahul Gandhi speaks nonsense...This is the frustration of defeat. They neither understand India nor its heritage," Ravi Shankar Prasad told news agency ANI.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala dubbed Sam Pitroda a "serial offender" and demanded his expulsion from the Congress. "Shabd Uncle Sam ke, Soch Rahul ki (The words are Uncle Sam's, but the ideology is Rahul's). Pitting Bharatiya versus Bharatiya. Racism & nafrat ki dukaan (peddlers of hate)," he tweeted.
