New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s “poor thing and very tired” remarks about President Droupadi Murmu after the latter’s hour-long address to Parliament Friday snowballed into a huge controversy, with the Rashtrapati Bhavan saying they were in “poor taste, unfortunate and unacceptable.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tore into the Congress, accusing its ‘shahi parivaar'(royal family) of insulting the President, who hails from a tribal background, and claiming that the party has always undermined the progress of those who come from marginalized communities.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan came out with a statement to say the remarks clearly hurt the dignity of the high office.
As several BJP leaders condemned Sonia Gandhi’s remarks, party chief J P Nadda said they were “deeply disrespectful”, and underscored the opposition’s “continued disregard” for the dignity of the highest constitutional office. Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju demanded an apology from the former Congress president.
The Congress hit back and said every person in India has respect and empathy for President Murmu but claimed that the BJP leaders cannot digest Sonia Gandhi’s “empathy” for her health.
Soon after the President concluded her customary address to a joint sitting of Parliament to mark the start of the Budget session, Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also a party general secretary, were seen discussing the speech in the Parliament complex.
“The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end… she could hardly speak, poor thing,” Sonia Gandhi was heard saying in a video doing the rounds on social media.
During the discussion, Rahul Gandhi was also heard asking his mother if the President’s speech was “boring”.
When asked to comment on Sonia’s comments, Priyanka Gandhi said her mother has the utmost respect for the President and that it is very unfortunate her remarks have been allegedly “twisted by the media”.
She also hit out at the BJP’s demand for an apology over the issue, saying it should first apologise for “ruining the country”.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said it believes that “it might be the case that the Congress leaders were not acquainted 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.”
In their reactions to the President’s address, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable, the statement noted.
“These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak. Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth.
“The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring,” the statement said.
Latching onto Congress leaders’ remarks about President Murmu, 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, OBC communities who rise above their circumstances. They insult them at every step.”
Nadda in a post on X said Sonia Gandhi’s use of the phrase ‘poor thing’ to refer to the President is “deeply disrespectful” and underscores the opposition’s continued disregard for the dignity of the highest constitutional office.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, he added.
While the President was highlighting the government’s achievements, the opposition, driven by its “feudal mindset”, instead chose to mock the empowerment of backward classes and women, “a transformation” brought about under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, he charged.
Rijiju said the BJP will not “tolerate” the effort that is being made by the opposition to show Murmu as weak.
“Since a tribal woman has become the President of the country for the first time, they are unable to digest it and are trying to project her as weak.”
“The President is a woman and a tribal. She is not weak,” he told reporters in the Parliament complex.
Slamming Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Rijiju said the Congress leaders calling President Murmu a “tired woman” and describing her speech as “boring” does not suit them. “It’s highly condemnable.”
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.”
Priyanka Gandhi said it is pretty clear that her mother means no disrespect to the President.
“My mother is a 78-year-old lady. She simply said that ‘the President must have been tired reading such a long speech, poor thing’. She fully respects, in fact she has the utmost respect for her (the President). It is very unfortunate that this kind of a thing is twisted by the media,” she told reporters.
“They are both respected people, they are older than us, they are at a certain age now and it is pretty clear that she (Sonia Gandhi) means no disrespect.”
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.
Congress leader Gouramis Gogoi said in a post X, “Sonia Gandhi’s empathy for Hon’ble President Droupadi Murmu ji’s health cannot be digested by the men in BJP.”
Every person in India has respect and empathy for the President, he said.
PTI