Sam Pitroda, known for his proximity to prominent Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, made the controversial remarks in an attempt to praise India’s democracy and diversity, but they were seen as an embarrassing howler amid the general elections.

“We could hold (the) country together as diverse as India, where people in the east look like Chinese, people in the west look like Arab, people in the north maybe look like whites and people in the south look like Africans. It doesn’t matter. We’re all brothers and sisters,” Pitroda said in an interview with The Statesman newspaper.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised his words as disrespectful and some saw them as racist.

The Congress distanced itself from the remarks and its president, Mallikarjun Kharge, accepted his resignation from the party’s overseas affiliate.

“The analogies given by Sam Pitroda to India’s diversity are extremely wrong and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely disassociates itself from these analogies,” party spokesman Jairam Ramesh said in a social media post.

“Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress president has accepted his decision,” Ramesh said in another post on Wednesday.

Pitroda, 82, whose full name is Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, is based in the US and enjoys the reputation of a serial entrepreneur.

He was an influential adviser during Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership in the 1980s and led several technology initiatives.

Pitroda in 2009 was named an adviser on public information infrastructure and innovation with the rank of a cabinet minister during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister.