Sam Pitroda.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Sam Pitroda's reappointment as the chairman of the Congress’ overseas unit is the party's endorsement of all the “objectionable and unsavoury” remarks he made about Indians, 1986 anti-sikh riots, and the Pulwama terror attack, the BJP charged on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that the Congress had distanced itself from Pitroda's remarks “just to fool and confuse” the people of the country.
The BJP's accusation came a day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday reappointed Pitroda as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, weeks after he resigned from the post following controversial remarks in the middle of Lok Sabha elections.
"As soon as the elections are over and Rahul Gandhi is made the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the Congress reappointed Sam Pitroda as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress as he is Rahul Gandhi's mentor, advisor and ‘guru’,” Poonawalla charged.
"With his reappointment, it is now very clear that the Congress subscribes to and endorses all the unsavoury, objectionable and inciting comments made by Sam Pitroda about Indians, Lord Ram, Ram Navami, Sikh genocide, Pulwama terror attack,” he added.
The Congress had distanced itself from his remarks "just to fool and mislead the people" of the country as his comments were “politically inconvenient” for the party during polls, the BJP spokesperson alleged.
Pitroda stoked a major controversy with his remarks during a podcast where he cited ethnic and racial identities like Chinese, Africans, Arabs and Whites to describe the physical appearance of Indians from different parts of the country.
His "hua toh hua" (so what) reaction to a question on the 1984 communal violence and "it happens all the time" reference to the Pulwama terror attack, both in 2019 as the country was gearing up for the general elections, had also triggered controversy.