Nirmala Sitharaman Calls for National Unity Amid Controversy Over Sam Pitroda's Racist Comments

Nirmala Sitharaman, a prominent Indian economist, politician, and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been serving as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. In an exclusive interview with NewsX, she discussed the importance of national unity in India and addressed issues of political divisiveness in the wake of controversial and racist remarks made by Sam Pitroda, former Overseas Congress chief.

During the interview, Editor-in-Chief Rishabh Gulati brought up a controversial comment by Sam Pitroda, the former Overseas Congress chief. Rishabh Gulati asked, ‘There is now an infamous comment by a certain former Overseas Congress chief, now Sam Pitroda, that I’m sure you’ve heard about, regarding people who live in the Northeast. And he says people who live in the south of India look like Africans. As a Tamil, how do you feel?’

Sitharaman responded, ‘Well, I am outraged by the statement. I tweeted my thoughts just a couple of hours afterward. See, I see that as symbolic of everything the Congress does and speaks about. They look at India in pieces, they look at India in parts, and then they say that we are all together. That itself is the route to division. That itself is the route to opening up for flames. That approach of Congress, which gets covered in the name of the idea of India, is faulty. Unless you change how you look at India, the way Congress looks at India, you won’t be able to see one country that aspires to reach a better position.’

#NirmalaOnNewsX | ‘I am outraged by the statement. Congress looks at India in pieces, they look at India in parts and then they say we are all together. That approach of Congress gets covered in the idea of India. Is it self-faulty?’ Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister speaks on… pic.twitter.com/XIj1Thb7Dq

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The Finance Minister elaborated, ‘All our efforts should be to ensure that every part of India develops, the development benefits reach all of us, and no one region is left to languish. Now, if you start taking that approach, which is the approach of Prime Minister Modi, that we work for every region of India, everybody contributes. We need to increase everybody’s share in the contribution and so on. Repeated statements coming from Congress, all its sympathizers, or its mentors only reinforce this thought that the idea of India is to aggravate the fault lines, which is just not right. Prime Minister Modi’s approach is fair and balanced, ensuring that every region of India is given equal development opportunities.’

Moving on, Rishabh Gulati asked, ‘It’s not just that, now the Congress has disowned it, but right before that, he (Sam Pitroda) came up with this theology on inheritance tax. Now, subsequently, the conversation is, “No, this is not an official policy”, but do you think that the concept of an inheritance tax even making conversation would trouble many people, especially the middle class?’

Sitharaman answers, ‘Yes, it is going to trouble, there’s no doubt about it. But instead of saying no, we are not in favor of it (the redistribution of wealth). Instead of clearly saying, “We are not in favor of that, we are in favor of this and stating what you want to do,” Congress is only saying this and that, that and this, and confusing it further.’

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed how clean politics and unity are vital for India’s progress. As the country deals with different issues, her message for inclusive growth and unity is crucial for bringing people together and moving forward.