Sam Pitroda sparks controversy by stating, “People in East look Chinese, South like Africa.

India is a diverse country with people from many different ethnic backgrounds. This diversity was highlighted by controversial remarks made by Sam Pitroda, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress.

He compared people from different regions of India to different ethnicities, stating that the people in the East look like Chinese, those in the West look like Arabs, those in the North look like White, and those in the South look like Africans. The Congress has distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, with senior leader Jairam Ramesh stating that the analogies given by Pitroda are extremely wrong and unacceptable.

The remark has been criticized by senior BJP leaders, including Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who emphasized the unity of the diverse Indian population. BJP leaders strongly condemned Pitroda’s comments, describing them as racist, divisive, and insulting to fellow Indians.

They criticized the Congress for supposedly promoting a divide and rule ideology and called for a better understanding of the country’s diversity. Pitroda’s remarks came in response to a question about one of the fundamental issues of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, which is the fear that the BJP might alter the basic nature of the country’s socio-economic fabric, including the Constitution.

He expressed a contrasting view that emphasized India’s secular and democratic nature and highlighted the need to respect different languages, religions, customs, and food. Pitroda’s comments arose amidst a broader political context, as the Congress was fending off attacks from the BJP.

The BJP had criticized the Congress over Pitroda’s comments about an inheritance tax and had also targeted the Congress over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about Muslims and claims of “wealth redistribution to infiltrators”. Pitroda defended the Congress’s policies, citing the inheritance tax in the United States as an example of preventing the concentration of wealth.