New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress, accusing its “shahi parivar” of insulting President Droupadi Murmu, who hails from a tribal background.
In a direct response to Congress leaders’ purported remarks on Murmu over her Friday speech, Modi, at a public meeting in Dwarka, said, “These Congress people think they are the masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress royal family has once again been exposed.”
He added, “Today, our common President, Draupadi Murmu ji, addressed Parliament. She spoke about the achievements of the nation and the vision for a developed India. Coming from a tribal family in Odisha, she rose from the tribal region to represent the nation. Despite not speaking Hindi as her mother tongue, Odia delivered an inspiring speech to Parliament.”
“Draupadi Murmu has risen from a tribal family in the forests of Odisha to reach here. Her native language is not Hindi; she was raised speaking Odia. Despite Hindi not being her first language, she delivered an inspiring speech in Parliament today. However, the royal family of Congress has resorted to insulting her. A member of the royal family said that the tribal daughter gave a boring speech, and another member went even further by calling the President a “poor thing,” “poor,” “a thing,” and “tired.” They find a tribal daughter’s speech boring,” PM Modi said.
“This is an insult to the 20 crore tribal brothers and sisters of the country. It is an insult to every poor person in the country who rises from the ground. The royal family of Congress does not like those who rise from poverty, Dalit, tribal, or OBC backgrounds,” he added.
PM Modi, further, trained guns at Rahul Gandhi saying Congress leaders find the President’s speech boring and prefer to insult the country abroad.
“They insult such people at every step. Economic progress, farmers’ prosperity, metro roads, airports, startups, the happiness of athletes—these were described in her speech today. They find these topics boring, preferring to insult people, defame India abroad, and talk about urban Naxalites,” he said.
A political slugfest erupted after Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi reacted to President Murmu’s address ahead of the Budget session, saying that the President appeared to become “tired” towards the end of her speech and “could hardly speak.”
“The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing,” Sonia, who attended the joint sitting of both the Houses said while speaking to the reporters.
Sonia Gandhi’s remarks ignited controversy, with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders condemning her comments and demanding an apology from the former Congress President. BJP president Nadda demanded an “unconditional apology” from Sonia Gandhi, whilst parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju suggested the opposition’s inability to accept a tribal President.
“The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party. I demand that the Congress Party unconditionally apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India,” Nadda said in a post on X.
Rashtrapati Bhavan also condemned the recent remarks made by Congress leaders said that the comments were “in poor taste” and “hurt the dignity of the high office”.
Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a statement saying that the remarks “clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable.” It reaffirmed that the President’s speech reflected the government’s commitment to inclusive development, national security, and economic growth.
