‘Blatantly racist’: Congress on PM Narendra Modi's jibe over Sam Pitroda's remarks

The Congress' reaction came a day after PM Modi launched a vitriolic attack over Sam Pitroda's analogy to depict India's diversity.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for invoking the debate on the “skin colour of Indians” after he led an all-out attack on Sam Pitroda, who triggered a fresh row by comparing Indians' ethnic and racial identities with Chinese, Arabs, Whites and Africans. P Chidambaram said PM Narendra Modi's remarks were completely “irrelevant and blatantly racist”.

Congress leader P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Narendra Modi(File)

Clarifying the stand on fielding the Opposition's candidate against Droupadi Murmu in the Presidential elections in 2022, P Chidambaram said support or opposition to a candidate was not based on skin colour but was a political decision.

"In the last election to the office of President of India, there were two candidates - Smt Draupadi Murmu and Shri Yashwant Sinha. The BJP and its allies supported Smt Murmu. 17 Opposition parties, including Congress, supported Mr Sinha. Support for a candidate was not based on the colour of the skin. Opposition to a candidate was also not based on the colour of the skin. Support or opposition was a political decision, and every elector abided by the decision of his or her party. Why did the Hon'ble PM bring the colour of the skin into the election debate? PM's remarks are completely irrelevant and blatantly racist," the former union minister said in a post on X.

The Congress' reaction came a day after Modi launched an attack over Sam Pitroda's analogy to depict India's diversity. Slamming the latter's remarks as “utter racist”, Modi said people will not tolerate the attempt to insult them based on their skin colour.

Addressing a rally in Telangana's Warangal, Modi said now, he came to know why THE Congress was opposing Murmu, who is the daughter of Adivasi family. He also demanded an answer from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over Sam Pitroda's statement.

'Shehzade of the Congress has to answer. My country will not tolerate the disrespect of my countrymen based of their skin colour and Modi will never tolerate this...," the PM said.

"I was thinking a lot that (President) Droupadi Murmu who has a very good reputation and is the daughter of Adivasi 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..." Modi added.

Meanwhile, the Congress distanced itself from his words and criticised those as "most unfortunate and unacceptable" after Pitroda's words triggered a political firestorm. Later in the day, Pitroda resigned as the Indian Overseas Congress chief, apparently after being nudged by the party leadership.

Pitroda, an advisor to former PM 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.

(With inputs from agencies)