Hurt dignity of high office, in poor taste: Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sonia Gandhi's 'President got tired' remark

The Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday termed comments made by some prominent Congress party leaders on President Droupadi Murmu's address to parliament as "unfortunate and entirely avoidable" and "in poor taste".

In a statement, the press secretary to the President said, Droupadi Murmu was "not tired at any point" during her hour-long address to kick off the Budget session of Parliament.

"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," President's Office said in a press release.

"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 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.

Sonia Gandhi's 'poor thing' remark triggers row

Earlier today, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's reaction to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the Joint session of the Parliament stoked a controversy. She said that the President "could hardly speak, poor thing."

"The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi told reporters.

President Murmu's address kickstarted the Budget Session. Emphasising that the government is working on all-round development, President Murmu said that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India) and the government is working with a "saturation approach" so nobody is left in the journey.