Congress leader and close associate of Rahul Gandhi, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda popularly known as Sam Pirtoda has attacked the Bharatiya Janata Paty and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “endangering ” the “secular and diverse idea of India” by his frequent temple visits, the celebration of monumental Ram Mandir and observance of Hindu festivals like Ram Navami in a 2nd May interview with The Stateman.
He claimed that Indians native to the Eastern side of the country resemble Chinese people, those living in the West appear middle eastern while North Indians look like ‘white people’ and the ones in the South are similar in appearance to the people of ‘Africa’.
Sam Pitroda alleged, “This will ultimately affect our economy, employment, future, safety and security. That’s one view and that centres around the Ram temple, God, history, heritage, Bhagwan (Lord) Hanuman, Bajrang Dal and all kinds of issues. Fine, I respect their view. There is another group which says look our founding fathers fought against the British Raj, not for Hindu Rashtra but for a secular nation. Pakistan decided to create a nation based on religion and see what happened to them. We are a shining example of democracy in the world. We have survived 70-75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together leaving aside a few fights here and there.”
He further stated, “We could hold a country together as diverse as India where people on the East look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on the North look like maybe White and people in the South look like Africa. Doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters. We all respect different languages. We all respect different religions, different looks, different customs. different food and as a Gujarati, I love dosa, I love idli. That’s my food. That’s no longer South Indian food. Okay, that’s the India I believe in where everybody has a place and everybody compromises a little bit.”
"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" 💀💀
— Darshan Pathak (@darshanpathak) May 8, 2024
(VC : @TheStatesmanLtd) pic.twitter.com/aPQUyJflag
Watch the entire video below and Sam Pitroda’s comment on racial diversity in India begins at 2:40 mark.
He claimed, “You know if I go to Tamil Nadu and can’t speak the local language, that’s okay, I am still at home. Okay, people love me. I can go to any shop and buy anything and stay in any hotel because that’s my India. Okay, so that idea of India which is rooted in democracy, freedom, liberty, and fraternity is being challenged by Ram temple and Ram Navami and the Prime Minister going to temples all the time. You know, he is talking not as a national leader but as the leader of the BJP.”
Pitroda’s earlier comment on inheritance tax
Pitroda was in the news last month for doubling down on ‘inheritance tax’. Amidst outrage over the Congress party’s ‘wealth redistribution’ poll promise, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda has suggested that a US-like inheritance tax should be brought in India. Pitroda while explaining the inheritance tax claimed that in the US, 55% of the wealth is grabbed by the government when a person dies and the rest goes to the family, suggesting that Congress can bring a similar policy under its wealth redistribution promise.
