NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi’s “poor thing” reference for President Droupadi Murmu on Friday kicked up a huge storm with the BJP unleashing an all-out offensive against “disrespect shown to the President” while the Congress hitting back and alleging that “it was the BJP that had shown disrespect to President Murmu by not inviting her to the inauguration of new Parliament building and the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.”
It all started after the President’s hour-long address to the joint sitting of Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget session. Responding to reporters seeking her reaction on President’s Budget speech, Sonia Gandhi, who was flanked by Rahul, Priyanka and other Congress leaders, said: “The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing.” In his reaction, Rahul dismissed the President’s speech as “boring,” and added “No comments”. He repeated the same thing again and again.”
The BJP was quick to latch on to Sonia’s remark and said the use of phrase “poor thing” for the President shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP attack and accused the Congress “shahi parivar” of insulting President Droupadi Murmu, who hails from a tribal background.
Also read: ‘Insult to poor, tribals’: PM Modi attacks ‘arrogance’ of Congress’s ‘shahi pariwaar’ after Sonia Gandhi’s remark on President
The remarks, coming in the middle of the heat of Delhi elections, added fuel to BJP’s fire against the Congress. “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 the ten crore tribal brothers and sisters of this country. This is an insult to every poor person who rises from the ground,” the Prime Minister said at a rally in Delhi.
The Prime Minister also alleged that the Congress had always undermined the progress of the marginalised communities. “The Congress royal family does not accept anyone from the Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC communities who rise above their circumstances. They insult them at every step,” he said.
Reacting sharply, BJP national president J P Nadda said in a post on X, “Former Congress president 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.”
Several NDA ministers also attacked Sonia Gandhi and sought her apology.
The Congress counterattack was led by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge who alleged that it was the BJP that had disrespected President Murmu when it did not invite her to the inauguration of Parliament or Ram temple in Ayodhya.
“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 in Hindi 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,” he said.
Kharge also alleged that BJP leaders and a section of media had twisted Sonia’s remarks to hide the bad state of the economy after the Economic Survey has shown the “mirror of truth” to the Modi government.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi also defended Sonia and said her mother had the utmost respect for the President and it was very unfortunate that her remarks were “twisted by the media”.
“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,” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters here.
“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,” the Congress MP said while exiting the Parliament House complex after attending a committee meeting.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan also reacted to the controversy and issued a strongly-worded statement slamming the remarks made by Congress leaders. “Congress leaders’ comments on President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the Parliament are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable. Such comments hurt the dignity of the high office and therefore are unacceptable, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
It refuted the claims made by Sonia Gandhi and said the President was not tired at any point during her address.
“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.
(With inputs from agency)