‘I am from South India and I look Indian,’ says Sitharaman after Sam Pitroda’s ‘South Indians look like Africans’

NEW DELHI : Rebutting the remarks made by Congress leader Sam Pitroda on the diversity of India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took a jibe at him and said that she is from South India and she looks Indian.

Taking to her official X handle, Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted, “I am from South India. I look Indian! My team has enthusiastic members from North-East India. They look Indian! My colleagues from West India look Indian!”

Calling Sam Pitroda a racist, Sitharaman further added, “But, for the racist who is the mentor of Rahul Gandhi, we all look African, Chinese, Arab and the White! Thanks for revealing your mindset and your attitude. I.N.D.I alliance’s shame!”

Meanwhile, Narendra Babu of People of Telangana, while speaking with ANI, expressed unhappiness over Sam Pitroda’s remarks and said, “What Congress’ Sam Pitroda said is not right. The complexion of our Lord Ram and Krishna is also black… We are people of coal region and our colour is black so we are proud. We are also proud of African people if we look like them.”

I am from South India. I look Indian! My team has enthusiastic members from north east India. They look Indian! My colleagues from west India look Indian!
But, for the racist who is the mentor of @RahulGandhi we all look African, Chinese, Arab and the White! Thanks for… pic.twitter.com/UzXi4ndwhk

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) May 8, 2024

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the people of the country will not tolerate insults on the basis of the colour of the skin, following Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s “racist remarks” that stoked a massive row,

Addressing a rally in Telangana’s Warangal, PM Modi demanded an answer from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“‘Shehzade aapko jawaab dena padega’. My country will not tolerate the disrespect of my countrymen on the basis of their skin colour and Modi will never tolerate this…” he said.

PM Modi 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…” the Prime Minister said.

Earlier in the day, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda ignited a firestorm while speaking on the diversity of India referring to how people in the South “look like Africans and those in the West look like Arabs and those in the East look like Chinese.”

Pitroda, in an interview to ‘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 Arab, people in the North look like white, and maybe people in the South look like Africans.”

Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh posted on X to say that the analogies drawn by Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are “most unfortunate and unacceptable.”

“The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies” he said.

Earlier too, Pitroda had stoked a controversy while speaking about the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in America stating that such issues need to be discussed. (ANI)