'South Indians Look Like Africans, East Indians As Chinese': Sam Pitroda's Racist Comments Sparks New Row

Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda has stirred fresh controversy. In an interview with a news publication, Pitroda compared south Indians to Africans and the east Indian people to Chinese, sparking outrage on social media.

A clip from Pitroda's May 2 interview to The Statesman went viral after a user pointed out his racist remarks against Indians. In the interview, Pitroda sought to explain about India's diverse nature.

"We could hold together a country as diverse as India, where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people on North look like maybe White and people in South look like Africa. Doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters," he told The Statesman.

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Comments spark outrage

Pitroda's comments triggered outrage on social media with several users slamming him. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to X to express disapprove his racist remarks.

"Sam bhai, I am from the North East and I look like an Indian. We are a diverse country - we may look different but we are all one. Hamare desh ke bare mein thoda to samajh lo!," Sarma said.

Manipur Chief Minister S Biren Singh demanded an apology from the Congress over Pitroda's comments.

Inheritance tax row

In April, Pitroda triggered a massive row by debating a possible US-like inheritance tax in India. His comments came in support of the Congress' stance on redistribution of wealth. The BJP attacked the Congress over his comments and accused the party of taking away people's hard-earned money.

While the Congress distanced itself from the inheritance tax remarks, Pitroda issued a clarification calling the controversy "unfortunate".

"It is unfortunate that what I said as an individual on inheritance tax in the US is twisted by Godi media to divert attention from what lies PM is spreading about Congress manifesto. PM’s comments Mangal Sutra & gold snatching is simply unreal," Pirtoda said in a post on X.

"I mentioned US inheritance tax in the US only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts ? I said these are the kind of issues people will have to discuss and debate. This has nothing to do with policy of any party including congress," he added.