‘Native Congress leaders’ fought racism, ‘those of Italian origin’ make offensive remarks, says H.D. Kumaraswamy

Union Minister Kumaraswamy condemns derogatory remarks on skin color by Congress leaders, highlighting Italian-origin leadership's offensive comments.

Escalating his attack on Congress over Karnataka Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan referring to his skin colour in a derogatory way, Union Minister and JD(S)leader H.D Kumaraswamy on Saturday (November 16, 2024) sought to draw a difference between what he called “native Congress leaders and those of Italian origin.”

On social media handle X, he said, “There is a significant difference between native Congress leaders and those of Italian origin within the party. Native Congress leaders fought against racial discrimination. But now, the Italian-origin leadership of the @INCIndia Congress party is making offensive and derogatory remarks about the skin color of Indians.”

Addressing an election rally ahead of Channapatna bypolls, Mr. Khan had called Mr. Kumaraswamy “Kala” and “Kaliya”, kicking up a political storm. While addressing a rally at Channapatna on November 10, Mr. Khan explained the reason Congress candidate C.P. Yogeshwar, earlier with the BJP, had refused to contest on the Janata Dal (Secular) ticket, which was purportedly offered by the alliance partner. “Yogeshwar did not go to JD(S) because kalia (the black man) Kumaraswamy is worse than BJP. After going with BJP, Mr Kumaraswamy is planning to buy Muslim votes.” Playing an old audio clip in which Mr. Kumaraswamy says he would not seek votes from Muslims, the Housing Minister had asked the crowd, “Who is saying this? The kala (black) Kumaraswamy.”

Mr. Kumaraswamy, in his social media post, also sought to draw a parallel between Mr. Khan’s remarks and those of Sam Pitroda, overseas Congress president, made in a podcast earlier this year, which the BJP had dubbed “racist.” Mr. Kumaraswamy said, “For instance, Rahul Gandhi’s advisor and Overseas Congress President Sam Pitroda made racist comments saying: South Indians look like Africans, Northeastern Indians resemble the Chinese, North Indians appear like Arabs.

In a podcast, Mr. Pitroda, while describing the diversity of India, had said that the “people in the east look like the Chinese, people in the west look like the Arabs, people in the north look like, maybe, white and people in the south look like Africans.”

He had further said, ”“It does not matter. All of us are brothers and sisters. We respect different languages, different religions, different customs, different food.”

The BJP leaders from across India had immediately attacked Mr. Pitroda on multiple fora, with the Prime Minister raising it at his election rallies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in May this year.