(Image source from: Politico)

An Indian American Congressional staffer Saikat Chakrabarti is stepping down from the post following controversies surrounding him in the last few months.

Chakrabarti is the chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Recently, he was a center of criticism after he called moderate Democrats who had prescribed for the USD 4.6 billion emergency border funding bill as "Southern Democrats," thereby virtually calling them racist.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among many others, criticized Chakrabarti for insulting other Democratic lawmakers that supported the bill.

His comment surprisingly resulted in a tweet from the House Democrats account, saying: "Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?"

Apart from this, Chakrabarti also experienced an adverse reaction from several right-wing outlets in the country, as well as Republican supporters, for wearing a t-shirt with an image of Subhash Chandra Bose depicted on it.

According to a report by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, what triggered the protest is that by some of the people Bose is perceived as “an Indian nationalist who collaborated with the Nazis".

The report goes on to describe Bose as a dissenting Indian nationalist who enlisted "tens of thousands of Indian men to support the Japanese Invasion of British India in 1944 and help fight the British in Europe for Hitler."

Chakrabarti was instrumental in Ocasio-Cortez’s victory last year. He had been alongside the U.S. representative since her initial run.

"Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal," the Congresswoman's office said on Friday.

"We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in her official office, Saikat's goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do that."

By Sowmya Sangam