After Sam Pitroda, Adhir Ranjan's lesson in diversity backfires
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's attempt to back Sam Pitroda's alleged racist remarks has backfired. When questioned about Pitroda's comments, which drew parallels between South Indians and Africans and East Indians and Chinese, Chowdhury said not everyone in India "looks alike." "We have Proto Australoids, Mongoloid class, Negrita class of people. Hai to hai (It is how it is). In the demography of our country, regional features are different," he said.
BJP condemns Chowdhury's statements
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to condemn Chowdhury's statements, with national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla labeling the whole Congress party "racist." "It shows that the words are Sam Pitroda but soch is of Congress. Calling Indians as Chinese / African/ Negrita / Kala. Is it justifying comments of Uncle Sam? Is this why they did not sack him?" he questioned. He also asked if the Congress would sack Chowdhury, who in the past called President Droupadi Murmu "Rashtrapatni."
Fallout of Pitroda's remarks leads to his resignation
This uproar came at a time when the Congress is still recovering from the alleged racist remarks by Pitroda, who was the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, Pitroda described India as a "diverse country...where people in the east look like the Chinese, people in the west...Arabs, people in the north look like maybe white and people in the south look like Africa." Pitroda stepped down from his post on Thursday amid backlash.
Pitroda is not new to controversies
Last month, Pitroda had courted another controversy while addressing the need for a policy toward wealth redistribution in an interview with ANI. "In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million...when he dies he can only transfer probably 45% to his children, 55% is grabbed by the government." "In India, you don't have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing," he asserted.
