‘Happy he has retired before he says anything else’: Robert Vadra on Sam Pitroda row

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law and Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, Robert Vadra, said that he is happy Sam Pitroda retired before he says something untoward again. Vadra’s reaction comes after Pitroda resigned from the Congress party following his racist remarks on the Indian population. 

Vadra believes that Pitroda’s comments stem from his desire to remain relevant in the narrative. “What happens is once someone retires and is sitting in a corner of the world, they reminisce about the bygone days, and wish their name to remain relevant. And it is possible to remain relevant but they have to come here and talk to people on the ground, address their issues, highlight the flaws of the current government…talk about that,” he said. 

“But if you are sitting on your sofa and are talking about anything…it is all nonsense. So, I am happy he has been retired. I have personally written to him to talk about how incorrect his statement was. It was absolutely wrong…you are saying certain things at one point…which is not the thinking of the Congress party. Again you are saying something untoward…before he says something like this, it is better to retire him…that would be the right decision. This is my opinion,” said Vadra, in a rather blunt reaction. 

In a fresh controversy, Pitroda, speaking about India’s diversity, said that “people in the East look like Chinese, people in the West look like Arabs, people in the North look like white, and people in the South look like Africans”. He was talking about Indians co-existing in a “very happy environment” for 75 years. “It does not matter. All of us are brothers and sisters. We respect different languages, different religions, different customs, different food,” he had said.

This is the second controversy Pitroda found himself in a matter of days. He had earlier kicked the hornet’s nest by giving the example of the US' inheritance tax that necessitates giving away a hefty part of one’s wealth to the government and leaving only part of it to their children or family. 

The BJP that was already up in arms over Congress ‘wealth redistribution’ idea, took up Pitroda’s words to fire fresh salvo at the grand old party. Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s statement, and reiterated that that’s not its stance. 

It similarly disassociated itself from his racist analogy. “The analogies drawn by Mr 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,” said Jairam Ramesh. 

Sam Pitroda’s resignation as the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress was accepted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday.