Responding to Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitorda’s remarks on the ethnic backgrounds of Indians, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that he is from North East India and looks like an Indian.
Sarma, in a post on microblogging site X, said, “Sam bhai, I am from the North East and I look like an Indian. We are a diverse country – we may look different but we are all one. Hamare desh ke bare mein thoda to samajh lo!”
The senior Congress leader has triggered a controversy in his bid to make a pitch for national unity. In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, he described India as a diverse country “where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arabs, people on North look like maybe Whites and people in South look like Africans.”
Even as the row over Pitroda’s remark on “inheritance tax” barely settled during the election season, he has once again courted another controversy to the discomfiture of the grand old party.