Our Bureau
New York, NY
Sam Pitroda was re-appointed as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, an AICC release said on Wednesday. As per that the Congress President has reappointed Sam Pitroda to the position with immediate effect.
Pitroda had resigned from the position earlier in May this year amid controversies surrounding his remarks regarding the appearance of Indians. The Congress party then distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh informed about Pitroda’s decision to step down through a post on X.
“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,” the post mentioned.
Pitroda, in an interview with ‘The Statesman’, while reflecting upon the democracy in India, 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 a country together as diverse as India, where people in the East look like Chinese, people in the West look like Arabs, people in the North look like whites, and maybe people in the South look like Africans.”
He said the people of India respect different languages, religions, food and customs, which vary from region to region. “That’s the India that I believe in, where everybody has a place and everybody compromises a little bit,” he said.
As the remarks created an uproar amid the Lok Sabha elections, with the ruling BJP coming out all guns blazing against the Congress party, Jairam Ramesh said that the analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda are “most unfortunate and unacceptable.”
