A complaint was filed against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in a court in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar on Saturday over her 'poor thing' remark about President Droupadi Murmu. Muzaffarpur-based lawyer Sudhir Ojha filed the complaint, seeking the registration of an FIR against Sonia Gandhi for allegedly disrespecting the country’s highest constitutional authority.
Ojha also named Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as co-accused, seeking legal action against them as well.
'It's a disrespect to highest constitutional authority'
After filing the complaint before the CJM court in Muzaffarpur, Ojha told reporters, "Sonia Gandhi has insulted President Murmu by making the 'poor thing' remark. It's a disrespect to the highest constitutional authority in the country. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are co-accused in it. A case should be registered against them under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)."
The court will hear the matter on February 10.
Sonia Gandhi's remark on President's address
After the President's joint address to Parliament ahead of the Budget session, reporters outside the House asked Sonia Gandhi about Murmu's nearly 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. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also present there.
Rashtrapati Bhavan statement
Hours later, the Rashtrapati Bhavan released a statement calling the remark "unacceptable" and saying that Murmu was not tired. Rashtrapati Bhavan condemned the remark, without naming Sonia Gandhi.
"While reacting to the media on the Hon'ble President's Address to the Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable. 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 statement read.
"The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring. 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 added.
(With PTI inputs)
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