New Delhi: Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned from his position as Indian Overseas Congress Chairman, and the grand old party accepted his resignation.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh taking to his 'X', formerly known as Twitter, account revealed that Sam Pitroda had chosen to step down from the important position "of his own accord".
Pitroda faced criticism for his divisive comment that Indians in the East resembled Chinese people, while those in the South looked like African people. Pitroda's remarks were quickly disowned by Congress, which called them "unacceptable".
"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 an interview with The Statesman.
In response to Pitroda's comments, the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress, calling them "racist and divisive". At his rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, 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's 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 M K Stalin will snap the DMK's ties with the Congress for Tamil pride. "Do they have the guts?" he asked. (With agency inputs)
