‘In poor taste, unfortunate, unacceptable’: President’s office
NEW DELHI: The Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday termed comments made by senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament as “unfortunate and entirely avoidable.” It added that such remarks were “in poor taste” and had “hurt the dignity of the high office.”
This not only ignited a fresh war of words between the ruling BJP and the Congress, the main opposition party, but also snowballed into an unseemly political controversy. Earlier in the day, President Murmu addressed a joint sitting of Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget Session.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Sonia Gandhi, Rajya Sabha member and former Congress chief, said the President looked exhausted after her long customary speech.
“The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing,” said Mrs. Gandhi, flanked by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, both members of the Lok Sabha.
The BJP labelled the comments as “derogatory” and pressed for an apology. Soon after the remarks by Mrs. Gandhi, the Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a statement refuting the allegations.
“Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be further from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she believes that speaking up for marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring,” read the statement from her office.
“The President’s office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate, and entirely avoidable,” it said.
The statement added that “some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office and are therefore unacceptable.”
The deliberate usage of such words—”poor thing”—shows the elitist, anti-poor, and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party, said BJP chief JP Nadda, demanding an apology from the Congress.
“Boring? No comments? Repeating the same thing again and again?” Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, could be heard helping his mother with her comments.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an all-out attack on the Congress, accusing its shahi parivaar (royal family) of insulting the President, who hails from a tribal background. He said the Congress has always undermined the progress of those who come from marginalised communities.
PM Modi said, “These Congress people think they are the masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress’ royal family has once again been exposed.”
“The royal family of Congress stooped to a new low. One member called her speech ‘boring,’ and another went further, calling her ‘poor’ and ‘tired.’ This is an insult to 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of this country. This is an insult to every poor person who rises from the ground,” he told a public rally in Dwarka in poll-bound Delhi.
“The Congress’ royal family does not accept anyone from the Dalit, Adivasi, or OBC communities who rise above their circumstances. They insult them at every step.”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stressed that President Murmu, a tribal leader, is not weak and has worked extensively for the country.
The Congress hit back, saying every person in India has respect and empathy for President Murmu but claimed that BJP leaders cannot digest Sonia Gandhi’s “empathy” for her health.
When asked to comment on Sonia Gandhi’s remarks, Priyanka Gandhi defended her mother, saying she has the utmost respect for the President and that it is very unfortunate her comments have been allegedly “twisted by the media.”
Priyanka Gandhi said it is clear that her mother meant no disrespect to the President.
She also hit out at the BJP’s demand for an apology over the issue, saying it should first apologise for “ruining the country.”
Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan called the remarks an “insult” to the country’s women and tribals.
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said on X, “Sonia Gandhi referring to the President as a ‘poor thing’ demeans the high office and reflects her feudal mindset.”
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that the party has always respected the dignity of the office of the President and that, in order to hide the bad state of the economy, BJP leaders and a section of the media are twisting the phrase used by Sonia Gandhi.
Kharge also sought to turn the tables on the BJP, claiming that President Murmu was insulted by the Modi government when she was not invited to the new Parliament building’s inauguration.
