Sam Pitroda's comment on illegal migrants creates political stir

Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda has once again created a controversy after his statements on illegal migrants in the country. This comes almost a year after his "racist" remark India’s diversity.

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.



Pitroda talked about the Centre's crackdown on illegal migrants. He emphasised that the government should focus more on addressing issues that matter to the public, such as global warming, rather than only tackling migration.

The issue of illegal Bangladeshi migration has has re-emerged as a pivotal political narrative ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections. The issue has also come to the forefront after the accused in the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan was identified as a Bangladeshi.

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 reacted to 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.