New Delhi: Hours after landing in a controversy, Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned as the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. He tendered his resignation to the party after his controversial remarks spurred the BJP to label Congress "racist".
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted Pitroda's decision.
"Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision," Ramesh said in his post.
Pitroda, an advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, 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," he said.
His controversial comments came soon after his reference to inheritance tax in the United States while discussing the Congress's Lok Sabha poll manifesto gave the ruling BJP a potent handle to accuse the opposition party of eying citizens' assets as part of its "redistribution of wealth" policy.
Campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi pounced on Pitroda's comments to hit out at the Congress.
"I do not get angry if someone abuses me. Today, the philosopher of 'shehzada' (prince) has inflicted such a big abuse that I am full of anger. Will people's abilities in our country be decided by the colour of their skin? Who has allowed the shehzada to play this game of skin?" he said.
As a row erupted, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X: "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."
(with PTI inputs)