New Delhi

Former Union Minister and Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday lashed out at Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda over his alleged 'racist' remarks about how people in the South "look like Africans and those in the East look like Chinese", raising doubts on his understanding of India and its heritage.

Reacting to Sam Pitroda's remarks, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "It becomes clear again and again that what does Sam Pitroda understand about India. It is clear that he is a failure. He doesn't understand the country. He is Rahul Gandhi's advisor. I can now understand why Rahul Gandhi speaks nonsense. This is the frustration of defeat. They neither understand India nor its heritage, Ravi Shankar Prasad said while speaking to ANI.

Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also criticized Pitroda's statement, suggesting that it exemplifies why the Congress party is currently struggling.

Referring to Pitroda as Rahul Gandhi's professor, Naqvi said, "Because of such remarks by this proxy professor of Pappu, the Congress party is in such a state right now. Today because of such foolishness, Pappu is filled with dissapointment. You can imagine if the professor is like this, how will the student be".

Demanding an explanation from the Congress party over Pitroda's remark, BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan said that the IOC Chairman needs to be expelled from the party.

"Congress party owes an explanation. They need to take action & expel Sam Pitroda...Rahul Gandhi, on behalf of Congress, should come before the nation and seek an unconditional apology," Kesavan said.

"Vile and racist statement by the Shakuni of the Congress party, Sam Pitroda has demeaned and insulted every one of our 140 crore Indians today. This also exposes very clearly the bigoted & divisive mindset of the Congress leadership...What kind of a perverse and parochial mindset is this?...It reflects the diseased and divisive mindset of the Congress party. Congress party owes an explanation...First, they need to take action & expel Sam Pitroda from the Congress party...Rahul Gandhi, on behalf of the Congress party, should come before the nation and seek an unconditional apology for this racist, bigoted mindset of the Congress party," he added.

BJP MP Kiren Rijiju also took potshots at Pitroda, alleging that his remarks aim to create divisions within India

"Rahul Gandhi's Chief Adviser says, South Indians look like Africans, all North-Eastern people look Chinese, West Indians are like Arabs & North Indian are whites. The tone & tenor of this statement is to divide India.. Shameful!," Rijiju wrote in a post on X.

Earlier in the day, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda stoked a controversy, while speaking on the diversity of India referring to how people in the South "look like Africans and those in the East looks like Arabs and those in the East look like Chinese."

Pitroda, in an interview with 'The Statesman', while reflecting upon the democracy in India said, "We have survived 75 years in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside few fights here and there. We could hold a country together as diverse as India, where people on the east look like Chinese, people on the West look like Arab, people on North look like white and maybe people on South look like Africans."