Congressman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stated in a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, “I am writing to convey my apologies for having chosen an erroneous phrase to characterize the job you hold.”
President Droupadi Murmu has received an apology from Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for referring to her as “Rashtrapatni” in a media interview earlier this week.
“I am writing to express my sorrow for having incorrectly described the position you occupy with an unsuitable word. It was an innocent linguistic error, I can promise you. President Murmu, the nation’s first head of state from a tribal group, received a letter from Mr. Chowdhury apologizing and requesting acceptance of his actions.
After her party leader made the remark, the BJP also requested an apology from Sonia Gandhi, the head of Congress.
The “Rashtrapatni” statement was made by Mr. Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha when speaking to reporters during his party’s demonstrations over a number of concerns.
The BJP emphasized that Mr. Chowdhury’s remark was not an innocent slip of the tongue as the Congress leader had stated.
“It wasn’t an accident of the tongue. If you watch the video, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury twice referred to President Murmu as Rashtrapati before referring to her as Rashtrapatni “Kiren Rijiju, the minister of law, spoke to news agency ANI. Such issues “should not be treated lightly,” he continued.
To clarify his position on the issue, the Congress leader wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker on Friday. The Union Minister Smriti Irani, according to a Lok Sabha member of the Congress party, was “yelling” the name of President Droupadi Murmu during her presentation to the House, sans the Madame or Smt prefix, “which “amounts to lowering [the position’s] status.”
“Clearly, this will diminish the honor and dignity of the position of the Hon. President. I hereby urge that the manner in which Smt. Smriti Irani addressed the Honorable President to be struck from the record of the House proceedings,” he continued in the letter.
Ms. Irani had before argued that Congress has to apologize to every Indian citizen in Parliament and on the streets of India.
“Sonia Gandhi, you approved of Droupadi Murmu’s humiliation. The denigration of a woman in the highest constitutional position was approved by Sonia Ji. The humiliation of a lowly lady who holds the highest office in this nation was approved by Sonia Ji.
You approved of the slander against every Indian citizen. You continue to denigrate the office of the Indian President through your male Congress employees and leaders. Remorse to the country. Sonia Gandhi, please apologize to the women, the poor, and the tribal people of the nation urged Union Minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha.
Mr. Chowdhury, however, has stuck to his line that the remark was a “slip of the tongue” caused by a linguistic barrier because he is a Bengali and is not fluent in Hindi. The BJP has disproved this line of reasoning as a poor defense.
When the incident first surfaced on Wednesday, Mr. Chowdhury was adamant that he would not apologize to the BJP, but rather, he would meet with President Murmu and express his “a hundred times” regret if she felt offended by his comment.
