Slugfest erupts over Sonia’s ‘poor thing’ remark
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress and the Rashtrapati Bhavan said the remark hurt the dignity of the high office.
A comment by senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on President Droupadi Murmu kicked up a political row on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress and the Rashtrapati Bhavan said the remark hurt the dignity of the high office.
After the President’s address opened the budget session of Parliament on Friday morning, Gandhi was asked by reporters outside the House about Murmu’snearly hour-long speech. “The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing,” the former Congress chief was heard saying in clips in what appeared to be a reference to how long the address was. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi described the speech as “boring” in one of the clips. To be sure, the President’s customary address at the start of the budget session is cleared by the Union government.
Sonia Gandhi’s comment immediately sparked a storm of condemnation from Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. Hours later, the Rashtrapati Bhavan released a statement calling the remark “unacceptable” and saying that Murmu was not tired. Later in the day, Modi attacked the Congress at a rally in Delhi and alleged that Sonia’s comment had insulted tribal communities.
“Droupadi Murmu ji has come here from a tribal family. She inspired Parliament today in a wonderful way and gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her. A member of the royal family said that the tribal daughter gave a boring speech. Another member went one step further and called the President a poor thing. They find the speech of a tribal daughter boring,” Modi said in Dwarka.
“This is an insult to the 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of the country. This is an insult to every poor person of the country...They like abusing people, defaming India in foreign countries and talking about urban Naxals,” he added.
The Congress pushed back and said the BJP was trying to twist an innocent comment. “My mother is 78 years old, she has simply said that ‘the President read such a long speech and she must have been tired, ‘poor thing’... She fully respects [the President of India]. I think it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is twisted by the media. They both are two respected people and older than us...She means no disrespect,” said Congress lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
But the clarification didn’t dissuade the BJP from seeking an apology from Sonia Gandhi.
“We strongly condemn the usage of the phrase ‘poor thing’ by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for Honourable president of India, Droupadi Murmu ji. The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor, and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party. I demand that the Congress unconditionally apologise to the honourable President and the tribal communities of India,” BJP chief and Union health minister JP Nadda said on X.
Rashtrapati Bhavan condemned the remark, without naming Sonia Gandhi.
“While reacting to the media on the Hon’ble President’s address to Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable,” Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement signed by the President’s press secretary, Ajay Kumar Singh.
“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. “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.”
The BJP, which has frequently accused the Congress of insulting Murmu and her tribal heritage, fielded senior ministers to hit out at the opposition party. Modi led the offensive during his election rallies in Delhi, which goes to the polls on February 5.
Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Prahlad Joshi criticised the remarks, calling them disrespectful. “Congress leaders cannot tolerate how people from Dalit, marginalized, and backward communities are occupying the highest positions in the country,” Pradhan wrote on X.
Joshi, in a post on X, sought an apology from Sonia Gandhi. “On one hand, Congress holds copy of the constitution at every opportune moment but at the other, disrespects the highest constitutional authority. It shows Congress’s condescending attitude towards Tribal communities. We demand an immediate apology to the Honourable President,” he said.
JD(U) leader KC Tyagi also condemned the remarks. “The statement made by Sonia Gandhi on Honourable President Droupadi Murmu is very unfortunate and condemnable,” he told news agency ANI. “Sonia Gandhi should take back her words and apologise to President Droupadi Murmu.”
The Congress dismissed the controversy and demands for an apology. “BJP should first apologise for plunging the country into such a pit,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hit back at the BJP and accused them of twisting Gandhi’s remarks to hide the “bad state of the economy” after the Economic Survey had shown the “mirror of truth” to the Modi government.
“Her Excellency the President was insulted by the Modi government on the very day when he was not invited to the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament,” Kharge said in a post on X. “The Indian National Congress and our leaders can never insult Her Excellency the President or any citizen. This is not our culture. The BJP had deliberately kept our current President and previous President away from both the Temple of Democracy and the Ram Temple.”
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also criticised the BJP’s reaction. “Sonia Gandhi’s empathy for Hon’ble President Droupadi Murmu ji’s health cannot be digested by the men in BJP,” he posted on X.