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Sam Pitroda, a close aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, advocated for illegal migrants to settle in India and criticised the Centre for its failure to address the issue.
Chairman of Congress Overseas Sam Pitroda with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi | File Image
Nearly a year after his controversial “racist” remark on India’s diversity sparked political slugfest, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda has once again found himself in soup as he reflected upon illegal migrants in the country.
Pitroda, a close aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, advocated for illegal migrants to settle in India and criticised the Centre for its failure to address the issue.
“‘If they want to come here, even illegally, let them come. We should include everybody. If we have to suffer a little bit, it’s okay. We will share but nobody wants to share. They want to keep their pie bigger and bigger,” Pitroda said.
OUTRAGEOUS!Rahul Gandhi’s right hand man Sam Pitroda’s statement advocating for illegal migrants to settle in India, even at the country’s expense, is shocking and irresponsible.
Now you wonder how Congress since the last 70 years worked overtime to settle ILLEGALS in our… pic.twitter.com/kKVFusDD71
— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी)🇮🇳 (@pradip103) January 27, 2025
Noting the Centre’s crackdown on illegal migrants, Pitroda emphasised government should focus more on addressing issues that matter to the public, such as global warming, rather than only tackling migration.
Notably, the contentious issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration has re-emerged as a pivotal political narrative ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections.
The BJP claimed that the ruling AAP was involved in creating fake Aadhaar cards for Bangladeshi infiltrators and accused Delhi’s ruling party of using them as a “vote bank” for the upcoming polls.
BJP Reacts To Pitroda’s Remark
BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari swiftly reacted to Sam Pitroda’s statement advocating for the permanent settlement of illegal migrants in India, calling the remark “outrageous.”
“Rahul Gandhi’s right-hand man Sam Pitroda’s statement advocating for illegal migrants to settle in India, even at the country’s expense, is shocking and irresponsible,” Bhandari said in an X post.
“Now you wonder how Congress for the last 70 years worked overtime to settle illegals in our country!” he added.
However, this is not the first time Pitroda courted controversy. During the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Congress leader said that “Northeast people look like Chinese, people in the west look like Arabs, people in the north look like white and the south look like Africa.”
