'Will not tolerate insult of fellow Indians': PM Modi on Pitroda's remark

Sam Pitroda sparked outrage with his comments suggesting that Indians in the East resemble the Chinese while those in the South look like Africans

Hours after Indian Overseas Congress head Sam Pitroda’s racist remark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lambasted the grand old party for ‘insulting Indians based on their colour’. “I will not tolerate insults of my fellow Indians,” the prime minister said.

He added that he now understands why the Congress keeps insulting President Droupadi Murmu.

“I was thinking a lot that Droupadi Murmu who has a very good reputation and is the daughter of Adiwasi family, then why is Congress trying so hard to defeat her but today I got to know the reason. I got to know that there is an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of ‘shehzada’ and just like the third umpire in cricket this ‘shehzada’ takes advice from the third umpire. This philosophical uncle said that those who have black skin are from Africa. This means that you are abusing several people of the country on the basis of their skin colour,” PM Modi said in Telangana’s Warangal.

 

Earlier in the day, Pitroda sparked outrage with his comments suggesting that Indians in the East resemble the Chinese, while those in the South look like Africans.

In an interview with The Statesman, Pitroda said, "We could hold together a country as diverse as India, where people in East look like Chinese, people in West look like Arabs, people in North look like maybe White, and people in South look like Africans. It doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters."

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."

 

Meanwhile, the Congress swiftly distanced itself from Pitroda's remarks, deeming them "unacceptable."

"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," wrote Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh on X (formerly Twitter).

 

The comment also attracted the BJP's ire, with Assam and Manipur Chief Ministers slamming the Congress leader.

“Sam bhai, I am from the North East, 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!” Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X.

His Manipur counterpart, N Biren Singh, while condemning the statements, said, “I condemn Congress leader Sam Pitroida’s racist comment against the people of the Northeast. The Congress has always tried to divide India with their Divide and Rule policy. But they must know that NE has been a part of India and will always be.”

“Such a mockery of India’s diversity is highly unacceptable, and @INCIndia and @sampitroda must publicly apologise," he added.

The BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi Kangana Ranaut also hit out at the comments, saying, “Sam Pitroda is Rahul Gandhi’s mentor. Listen to his racist and divisive jibes for Indians. Their whole ideology is about divide and rule. It’s sickening to call fellow Indians Chinese and African."

Pitroda had stoked a controversy last month too, when he said that the inheritance tax in America was an interesting law and could be among issues that people in India debate and discuss. This was turned by the BJP into an electoral issue, with leaders bringing it up during election rallies and PM Modi claiming that the Congress will impose an inheritance tax and “snatch” the inheritance of voters’ children.