How Sam Pitroda, Gandhis’ close aide, became Congress’ ‘foot-in-mouth’ politician

India has completed three of its seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Amid this period, there have been several controversies. And at the heart of the biggest of them lies Sam Pitroda, the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, until yesterday (8 May) when he stepped down from his position.

On 8 May, facing backlash for his latest comments on India’s “diversity”, the 82-year-old resigned from his position after the Congress also distanced itself from them, calling them “unfortunate” and “unacceptable”.

Earlier in the day, Pitroda stirred a huge row when remarks from his interview to The Statesman on India’s diversity were made public. In the interview, speaking about India’s diversity, the IOC chief had said: “We have survived for 75 years in a very happy environment where people live together, leaving a few fights here and there,” he said, adding, “We hold a country together as diverse as India where in the east people look like Chinese, people in west look like Arab, people in north look like white and in south look like Africa (sic). Doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters.”

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But who exactly is Sam Pitroda? And how is he connected to the Gandhis? Here’s what we know.

Early life of Pitroda

Pitroda hails from Titlagarh and is born to a family of Gujarati-speaking carpenters and blacksmiths. In his autobiography, he writes that he took his first train ride along with his brother Manek on a long trip to join the Sharda Mandir Boarding School in Vallabh Vidyanagar near Anand, Gujarat. And at the age of 13, he joined a technical school in Baroda where ‘machinery, carpentry, plumbing and electrical work were taught’.

However, Pitroda yearned to study more and hence, he applied to Oregon University as well as the Illinois Institute of Technology. He got admission to both, but decided to head for Illinois. When he left for the US on a long trip—which was mix of boat, plane, bus and train rides—from the Gateway of India’s south harbour by boat in 1965, he was just 22.

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His website states that he holds around 20 honourary PhDs, close to 100 worldwide patents, and has published five books and numerous papers and lectured widely all over the world.

The Gandhi connection

Pitroda, who lives in Chicago and describes himself as a “telecom inventor, entrepreneur, development thinker and policy maker”, has links to the Congress dating back to the 1980s.

In his autobiography, Dreaming Big, he outlines how he first met former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He writes that he was in India at the time and his interest was piqued when he saw people taking out a funeral of ‘dead phones’. It was then that he decided he wanted to fix this problem and approached the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with the help of a friend.

However, the PM was late to that meeting, which gave him an opportunity to speak to Rajiv. In his book, he writes, “Rajiv and I were about the same age. I introduced myself to him and got the immediate impression that this was someone I could talk to. There was something welcoming in his manner. Something clicked.”

It was during this talk, that he explained to Rajiv Gandhi the idea of bringing “telecom development to India in an Indian way”.

And the rest as they say is history. When Rajiv Gandhi took charge of affairs in India following the assassination of his mother, Pitroda had Rajiv’s backing, and soon he became a household name in India. In fact, in 1989, Pitroda became the first chairman of the Telecom Commission.

In 1991, following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Pitroda realised it was time to leave India and head back to the US. He continued to chase the American Dream until 2004 when India called out to him again. On his return, he headed the National Knowledge Commission from 2005 to 2009 under PM Manmohan Singh. In 2009, he was appointed as an adviser to the PM on public information infrastructure with the rank of a Cabinet minister.

Today, Pitroda is considered as a part of the Gandhi coterie. He also was the lead of Congress party’s overseas wing, the Indian Overseas Congress, a group of “concerned, committed, diverse, capable, and courageous Overseas Indians and Friends of India.”

The Print reports that it is Pitroda who has arranged many of Rahul Gandhi’s overseas visit, including the one to Berkeley in 2017 as well as the ones to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He has also been credited for changing the perception of Congress president overseas and has even given a few lessons to him on communication and leadership.

Pitroda’s many controversies

However, Pitroda’s rise to the top isn’t without controversies and scandals. In fact, the 82-year-old technocrat has been known to put the Congress in a tough spot owing to his remarks.

For instance in 2019, amid the general elections, when questioned about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he had said, “Ab kya hai ’84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. You were voted to create jobs. You were voted to create 200 smart cities. Aapne wo bhi nahi kiya. Aapne kuch nahi kiya isliye aap yahan wahan gup lagate hain (What about 1984 (riots) now? Talk about what you did in the last five years. What happened in 1984 has happened. So what? You were voted to create jobs. You were voted to create 200 smart cities. You did not even do that. You did nothing, so you keep talking about here and there.)”

And this wasn’t a lone incident. In the same year, Pitroda also raised questions about the Balakot strikes in the aftermath of the Pulwama attacks. “I don’t know much about attacks. It happens all the time. Attack happened in Mumbai also. We could have then reacted and just sent our planes, but that is not the right approach. According to me, that’s not how you deal with the world,” Pitroda said, demanding proof of the IAF’s operation.

In 2023 too, Pitroda raised eyebrows when he stirred a debate with his remarks on the Ram Mandir. He had said that temples were not going to solve India’s problems of unemployment, inflation, education, and health. Speaking at an event in the US in the presence of Rahul Gandhi, he had said: No one talks about these things. But everyone talks about Ram, Hanuman, and Mandir. I have said that temples are not going to create jobs.”

And this election season too, he has scored many a self-goal for the Congress. Prior to his remarks about India’s diversity, he triggered another row with his statement on US inheritance tax law. Pitroda advocated a US-type inheritance tax law in India, at a time when Congress was being attacked on claims of wealth redistribution .

“In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. That’s an interesting law. It says you, in your generation, made wealth, and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair,” Pitroda said in the interview.

The Congress had to issue a clarification while Pitroda, himself, stated that his comments had been misconstrued.

It’s difficult to gauge if Pitroda’s comments have hurt the Congress, but come 4 June when the Lok Sabha results are out, the answer will be clear. Will his stepping down help the Congress in the next four phases? We shall have to wait and watch.

With inputs from agencies