After "Assurance", Sam Pitroda Reappointed Overseas Congress Chief

Having stepped down from the post after two of his remarks stirred up a huge political row, putting the Congress on the back foot during the all-important Lok Sabha elections, Sam Pitroda has been reappointed the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress.

The reappointment was announced by the party in a statement on Wednesday and, later in the evening, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the decision was taken after Mr Pitroda clarified the context of the statements and gave an assurance that he will not "leave room for such controversies to arise" in the future.

In a post on X, Mr Ramesh said, "During the recent election campaign Sam Pitroda had made some statements and comments that were totally unacceptable to the Indian National Congress. By mutual consent he stepped down as Chairman of Overseas Indian Congress."

"Subsequently he clarified the context in which statements were made and how they were later distorted by the Modi campaign. The Congress President has reappointed him on the assurance that he will not in future leave room for such controversies to arise," he added.

Towards the end of April, when the first phase of the elections was over and the Congress was fending off a charge - led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - that its manifesto had spoken of wealth redistribution, Mr Pitroda had added fuel to the fire by speaking about an inheritance tax.

Criticising the Prime Minister for claiming that the party's manifesto spoke of snatching gold and women's mangalsutras (a sacred ornament in Hinduism symbolising that a woman is married), Mr Pitroda, while speaking to ANI, ended up talking about the inheritance tax.

"In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. That's an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair," he had said.

The BJP latched on to this statement and claimed that the Congress' hidden designs had been exposed.

Addressing a rally, PM Modi had said, "The advisor of the prince of the Congress royal family had earlier said that the middle class should be taxed more. Now they have gone further ahead. Now the Congress is saying that it will impose an Inheritance Tax and tax the inheritance received by people from their parents. The wealth you accumulate with your hard work won't pass down to your children. The Congress's hand will snatch it."

Even as the Congress was dealing with the fallout of that statement, Mr Pitroda ended up making another controversial comment in early May, which led to allegations of the party being divisive.

In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, the Congress leader had described India as a "... diverse country... where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people in the North look like maybe White and people in South look like Africa."

As the controversy over this remark snowballed, the Congress announced on May 8 that Mr Pitroda had decided to step down from the post.

"Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision," Mr Ramesh had posted on X.

The Lok Sabha elections were held between April 19 and June 1. The Congress had managed to win 99 seats on its own, improving its tally from 52 in 2019, and the INDIA alliance clinched 232 seats. The BJP fell short of a majority, winning in 240 constituencies, but the NDA was comfortably over the 272 mark, ending up with a figure of 293.