Lok Sabha Elections / Sam Pitroda resigns from the post of Indian Overseas Congress President

Lok Sabha Elections: Congress leader Sam Pitroda has resigned from the post of Overseas Congress President. Jairam Ramesh has informed that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted the resignation of Sam Pitroda. His statement had come today itself on which there was controversy. PM Modi had also termed his statement as apartheid.

Controversy erupted on Wednesday over another comment by Sam Pitroda in which he said that "people from the East look like Chinese and South Indian Africans". The ruling BJP hit out at Pitroda over his "racist" comments and claimed they exposed the opposition party's "divisive" politics.

श्री सैम पित्रोदा ने अपनी मर्ज़ी से इंडियन ओवरसीज कांग्रेस के अध्यक्ष पद से इस्तीफ़ा देने का फ़ैसला किया है। कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष ने उनका इस्तीफ़ा स्वीकार कर लिया है।

Mr. Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 8, 2024

The Congress, however, distanced itself from Pitroda's comments, calling them unfortunate and unacceptable. The party had said it “completely disassociates” itself from these comments. Pitroda, former chief of the Indian Overseas Congress, said in a podcast, "We have been living in a very pleasant environment for 75 years, where people can live together except for a few fights." In this telecasted interview, he said, "We can keep a country full of diversity like India united." Where people from the East look like Chinese, people from the West look like Arabs, people from the North look like whites and South Indians look like Africans.'' He said, ''It doesn't matter, we are all sisters and brothers. In India, people of different regions have different customs, food, religion, language, but the people of India respect each other.

Dissociating himself from Pitroda's remarks, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh had said on 'X', "The analogies given by Sam Pitroda to India's diversity are extremely wrong and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely disassociates itself from these analogies.”