Amid a recent row over Sam Pitroda's 'racist' remarks on Indians, Lakshman Singh, a Congress leader and younger brother of party veteran Digvijaya Singh, lambasted Pitroda. In a social media post, Singh hit out at former Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Pitroda, for his 'extremely shameful' statement. He said, "Sam Pitroda's statement is extremely shameful."
It is pertinent to note that Pitroda had again ignited a firestorm through his 'racist statement'. Speaking to a news portal on the diversity of India, Pitroda said, "People of the east look like the Chinese, and those of the south look like Africa."
He 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," Pitroda said in the interview that was widely circulated on social media," he added.
Meanwhile, the statement as soon as published garnered significant public outcry. Political parties too lambasted Pitroda. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while slamming Pitroda for his remark and also demanded an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.The Delhi BJP unit on Thursday held a massive protest against the controversial remarks near the Congress headquarters. Speaking at the protest, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva accused the Congress of trying to divide the people and said such remarks are a direct hit on the cultural diversity of the nation.
Meanwhile, Congress had earlier disassociated itself from Pitroda's remarks. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India's diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable.
Ramesh posted on X and said, "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."
READ MORE | Sam Pitroda resigns as Indian Overseas Congress chief after row over his racist remarks
