'I Am Dark-Skinned Bharatiya': Annamalai On Sam Pitroda's Racial Comments, Trends #ProudBharatiya

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has slammed Congress' senior leader Sam Pitroda over his racist comments and started a trend on X using the hashtag - #ProudBharatiya.

"Dear Sam Pitroda, I am a Dark-skinned Bharatiya! #ProudBharatiya," he wrote on X. Sam Pitroda's analogy to depict India's diversity. His comments that "people of the east look like the Chinese and those of the south look like Africa" have triggered a controversy.

In another tweet, Annamalai criticised the Congress that India is a land of Invaders and does not have an individuality of its own. He said, "Sadly, this is the thought process of its leaders, their offspring & mentees. Nothing much can be expected from a party with a mentor sitting in the US (the one on-screen & the other off-screen), run by the ones of Italian origin & the one aspiring to lead is a Champion amongst Dimwits.

His tweet has paved the way for the BJP workers to express their disapproval over Pitroda's comments. Hundreds of people, especially from South India, have lamented his remarks.

In a podcast, Pitroda 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 the country as diverse as India together. Where people in the east look like the Chinese, people in the west look like the Arabs, people in the north look like, maybe, white and people in the south look like Africans. It does not matter. All of us are brothers and sisters. We respect different languages, different religions, different customs, different food," Pitroda said in the interview that was widely circulated on social media.

However, the Congress has disassociated with his remarks. The party's general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X: "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."