Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has slammed the comments of veteran Congressman Sam Pitroda, who said that people of eastern India (including the North East) look Chinese.
Pitroda, who was also the Congress’s overseas unit chief, stepped down from the post this evening after his words caused a huge political row, with opposition politicians making full use of them to attack the party.
“It has really hurt the sentiments of the people of the North East and, similarly, people from other parts of the country,” Sangma said.
In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, Pitroda had said that India is a diverse country and did not limit himself to comparing people of east India with Chinese. He also said that those in the west of the country look like Arabs, people of northern India look “maybe” white and people of the South look African.
Sangma said that North Easterners have experienced different kinds of racial discrimination over the years, including having to face racist calls of being Chinese.
“We had hoped that we have gone beyond that now but when we hear senior leaders from the Congress Party speak such derogatory and discriminatory language it does really hurt the sentiments of our people,” he added.
Sangma said that when one starts to discriminate and make such kinds of statements it really goes against the entire idea of India.
“It is sad and should not have been said and we highly condemn this particular statement,” the CM added.
