Congress has a Sam Pitroda problem

Sam Pitroda’s explanation of India’s diversity, based on the skin tone of its residents and comparing them to other regions around the world, has the scholarship one associates with ‘WhatsApp university’ and has a regressiveness that puts fairness cream advertisements to shame

A ‘slip of the tongue’ is an accident when one intends to say one thing but says something else. If it recurs, they are no longer accidents; they point towards a larger problem. For the Congress this election season — as was the case during the 2019 general elections — that problem is its Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda.

Pitroda’s analogy about India’s diversity is doing more damage to the Congress than good, and is the latest in a string of ill-thought-out statements by the technocrat-politician. 

The Congress had somehow managed to untangle itself from Pitroda’s recent ‘inheritance tax’ statement, when, for good measure, he lit another fire. If Pitroda aims to disrupt Congress’ momentum in this campaign season and put it on the back foot, he is doing a great job.

Pitroda’s statement, where he said that “people on East look like Chinese…” is in line with the racial slur that is associated with Indians from the Northeast — and can land Pitroda in trouble if someone were to file complaint under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

One must be alarmingly tone-deaf to make such a statement in this day and age.

Pitroda’s explanation of India’s diversity, based on the skin tone of its residents and comparing them to other regions around the world, has the scholarship one associates with ‘WhatsApp university’ and has a regressiveness that puts fairness cream advertisements to shame. It must be ignored for its foolishness, but Pitroda is considered to be Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s mentor — and that is where it will bite the most. Pitroda’s statement will pull down Rahul Gandhi at a time when he is breaking free from the BJP’s image of him as an immature and unfit leader/politician.

One must wait and see how much Pitroda’s latest statement will hamper the Congress’ chances, but most likely this will haunt the Congress for a long time to come. Mani Shankar Aiyar’s 2014 comment that Narendra Modi could ‘sell tea at AICC meetings’, and Pitroda’s 2019 comment that attacks like that which took place in Pulwama “happens all the time” are still used by political parties to attack the Congress.

The Congress has ‘distanced’ itself from Pitroda’s latest statement, but that’s like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to pick up his statement and run with it — and why not! One can’t blame the BJP, or anyone for taking offence to the statement. In a campaign where BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi have manufactured facts and churned out lies, it would have been suspicious for the ruling party to leave this full length delivery.

Leaders from other political parties also make controversial statements, and we have seen plenty of examples over the past few weeks. But the difference is that all those statements — false and derogatory as they are — were intended to placate a particular group. For example, the BJP has demonised the minority community to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. Pitroda’s statement is not meant to reach out to any group, making it even more ridiculous.

Pitroda is not the rabble-rousing, dial-a-quote politician or one who has come up the ranks of the party structure and can enthral a crowd with his oratory skills. It does not matter what Pitroda meant while making that statement — what matters is how it has come through and how much he has exposed his party to attack.

Sam Pitroda is a repeat offender and should know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It will be interesting to see how he defends this statement, if he chooses to do it. One is not sure if the Congress has the equivalent of a gag order, but now would be a good time to bring in some discipline among its leaders.

(X: @vijucherian)

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH)