BJP MPs move privilege motion against Sonia Gandhi over remark on President Droupadi Murmu-OxBig News Network

A group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs on Monday (February 3) moved a breach of parliamentary privilege notice against Congress Member of Parliament Sonia Gandhi, alleging the use of derogatory and slanderous words to describe President Droupadi Murmu as she addressed a joint session of Parliament last week.

The comments, the MPs alleged, were meant to “lower the dignity of the highest office”.

“We write this with great dismay about certain unparliamentary, derogatory, and demeaning remarks recently made by Sonia Gandhi, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), against the President of India, which warrant serious consideration and disciplinary action,” the notice said.

“It is with deep concern we highlight this statement…which appears to demean the stature and dignity of the President of India, the highest Constitutional authority of our nation.”

“Such remarks not only undermine the dignity of the office but also violate the sanctity of parliamentary conventions,” the BJP MPs said in their letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Sonia Gandhi’s remark, they argued, “in no way get the benefit of parliamentary privileges”, citing a Supreme Court judgement that said abuse of privilege by an MP was “difficult to digest”.

“Furthermore, even the Parliamentary Ethics and Code of Conduct prescribes that no member utter defamatory words against others…this assumes significance when it concerns the President of India, and that too when spoken about within the Parliamentary premises.”

The remarks, they further argued, were “a clear manifestation of the elitist and anti-tribal mindset of Sonia Gandhi, who is yet to understand the struggle and sensitivity of a tribal poor”.

Sonia Gandhi’s ‘poor thing’ remarks about President Murmu spark controversy

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s “poor thing and very tired” remarks about President Droupadi Murmu after the latter’s hour-long address to Parliament on Friday (January 31) 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 JP 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”.