Sam Pitroda Reappointed as Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress

New Delhi: The Congress party has reinstated Sam Pitroda as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, as announced in an AICC release statement on Wednesday.

“Congress President has reappointed Shri Sam Pitroda as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress with immediate effect,” stated party general secretary K C Venugopal in the release.

Pitroda had resigned from his position earlier in May following controversies over his remarks about the appearance of Indians. The Congress party subsequently distanced itself from Pitroda’s statements.

In an interview with The Statesman, Pitroda, reflecting on Indian democracy, commented, “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.”

These comments sparked controversy during the Lok Sabha elections, prompting a strong response from the BJP against the Congress party. Jairam Ramesh remarked that Pitroda’s analogies were “most unfortunate and unacceptable.”

“The analogies drawn by Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies,” Ramesh stated in a post on X.