Suresh Subrahmanyan 

Almost seven decades ago, the late Harry Belafonte released a melodious, calypso-tinged song titled Brown Skin Girl (‘stay home and mind baby’).

Teenagers then, we had no clue this was a song that obliquely commented on American soldiers who landed in Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean (ostensibly to protect the local yokels from communism, a fate worse than death). Only, as they have routinely done worldwide, Yanks left the islands leaving a bevy of (mostly) blue-eyed babies, who never knew their fathers. We learned the sordid import of those lyrics much later. The song itself was catchy and hummable, and along with many other such songs like The Banana Boat Song. Harry Belafonte was a party favourite worldwide.

Now you are doubtless wondering what made me think of Belafonte and Brown Skin Girl. A gentleman by the name of Sam Pitroda, till recently friend, philosopher and guide to the Congress Party of India and in particular, Uncle Sam to the Gandhi clan, decided to comment on the racial diversity in India. This provoked widespread outrage.

Pitroda’s defence was that he was celebrating the diversity of India, that is Bharat. To be fair to the man, he may have been taken somewhat out of context, though there are few takers for that school of thought.

Which is hardly surprising. Mr. Pitroda’s innocuous remarks, even if considered so offensive that he is now been ostracized, officially declared an outcast and no longer Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. Likening people from eastern India to the Chinese (broody herr!), denizens from the South to Africans (Crikey! / Ayyayyo!), those from the North to the whites (really? Caucasian?) and pretty much the rest of the country to Arabs and Africans. All this purely on the basis of skin tone. Clearly, Pitroda’s mouth started operating in fifth gear while his brain was still cranking up to second.

Result? A potential political disaster for the Congress party just when it was beginning to gain some traction leading up to the final stages of General Election 2024. However, we must acknowledge that it was Sam Pitroda who led the telecom revolution in India during the early 90s though that does not give him the licence to start racially equating large numbers of Indians with Chinese, Africans, Arabs and Whites.

While the Congress Party distanced itself from Pitroda’s blooper, the BJP went on overdrive to take full advantage of what was viewed as an unpardonable solecism on the opposition’s part. It is election time, after all, and the BJP minions were in no mood to look a gift horse in the mouth. The Prime Minister thundered on about how cross he was at this gross insult to India’s people. Speaking for himself, he would not have minded barbs being directed at him but drew the line at this tasteless slur on his beloved countrymen, women and children. He even demanded an apology from the Congress leader, but thus far not one has been forthcoming. Surely, his banishment from the party should be apology enough?

Other BJP leaders wasted little time in hurling vituperation at their opponents. My favourite sound byte came from Assam’s feisty chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who said: ‘After I heard Sam Pitroda’s statement, I looked at myself in the mirror and I appear as a proud Assamese and Indian, not as a Chinese… this is a racist comment.’

Is anyone feeling sorry for Sam Pitroda? He has probably jetted off to some distant island in the West Indies to reflect on his faux pas and to nurse his wounds. For all I know, he could still be in touch with ‘the family’ sending priceless advice by code. He is a techie, after all. Who knows? Strange name, Pitroda. Never met anyone else with that moniker. I am told his antecedents come from Gujarat, the land of THE Gandhi, the Mahatma, and, of course, our Prime Minister, THE Modi. Whether Pitroda’s forbears can be traced back even further to Africa or China is anybody’s guess. God knows, he fired the first salvo. Unwisely. Now he has no option but to face the music.

Since Sam started all this colour coding business, I have been struck by an anomaly pertaining to his head and facial hirsuteness. Why is his head of hair a mixture of grey and white, while his goatee beard is unfailingly jet black? I would strongly advise him to dye it all black, or leave the external grey follicles to their own, natural devices. I am not sure if Sam Pitroda is familiar with the crooning of the late Frank Sinatra. If he is, he might reflect ruefully on the lyrics of this hit duet Something Stupid, warbled by Frank and daughter Nancy. I practice every day / To find some clever lines to say / To make the meaning come true / And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like….

Dear reader, you can paraphrase the last words of the incomplete line, as the fancy takes you.

(Suresh Subrahmanyan is a Bengaluru-based former advertising professional)

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