Parliament witnessed some unusual and unforgettable scenes on Thursday when the BJP leaders led by Union Ministers, Smriti Irani and Nirmala Sitharaman attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi in both Houses and accused her of encouraging her colleague Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for insulting the newly elected President. While TMC Lok Sabha MP, Mahua Moitra who was present in the lower House said that it was an orchestrated attempt to ambush and corner a 75-year old senior member, the BJP said that the Congress could not accept the elevation of a tribal woman to the highest office and was thus insulting Droupadi Murmu as per a plan. Earlier Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha was shown in a video clip referring to the new President as Rashtrapatni, a remark widely interpreted as both sexist and humiliating by the Treasury benches. Adhir later expressed regret over the reference, attributing it to his bad command over Hindi and offered to even apologise personally to the President. However, this was not acceptable and both Irani and Sitharaman were adamant that it was all done at Sonia’s behest. In order to placate the BJP members, Sonia walked across towards the treasury benches and tried to engage with a senior Woman BJP member but was heckled by others who were present. Her plea was that Adhir had already apologized and the matter should be treated as closed. This the BJP was not willing to concede and pandemonium continued even though discussion on many important matters was pending. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is known for making loose statements but if he has to be given the benefit of doubt, it could indeed have been a slip of the tongue as he has claimed. In the past many leaders including ministers from the South of Vindhyas or some non-Hindi speaking states have often used wrong words to depict the situation. Both Home Ministers, Shivraj Patil and Sushil Kumar Shinde suffered because what they tried to communicate in Hindi after thinking about the issue in their native Marathi, failed to relay the essence of what they wished to state. Sonia Gandhi can be accused of many things but she has never compromised on her dignified public stance and to drag her in this controversy was uncalled for. A senior Congress leader said that if Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said what he did at her instance, did Noopur Sharma’s insult of the Prophet was done at the behest of senior BJP leaders? Now this is carrying the argument too far. The Opposition has also claimed that the uproar over the President happened because the government did not want to have any discussion over important matters such as price rise and GST and this was used as diversionary tactics. Both the Opposition and the treasury benches must understand that the office of the President cannot under any circumstances be brought into any controversy, deliberately or inadvertently. Droupadi Murmu is now the President of the Nation and any comment on her reflects poorly on our democratic values. BJP is wanting to cash in on her tribal background and the Opposition shall soon start raising questions why a Santhal and not a Bheel was elevated to the highest office since the Bheels have the greatest numbers amongst the tribals. This is ridiculous and the position of the president must always be respected and not brought into any controversial space. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury should also remember that being the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, he must act more responsibly. Parliament is not for street politics and the control over language and expressions has to be fully exercised. There are many reasons which are often talked about why he was made the leader of the party in place of more articulate colleagues such as Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari. According to an unsubstantiated version, Sonia Gandhi had gone to meet Pranab Mukherjee soon after the 2019 Parliamentary elections and asked for his suggestion on the choice of the leader. Mukherjee said that the first priority of the Congress should be to have someone as its leader who would under no circumstances defect or look towards the BJP for finer pastures. In his mind and even though he was opposed to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s brand of politics, he was one such leader who could never align with the BJP, given the profile of his constituency. Well, difficult to say whether this is true or not. He has for the time being certainly put the Congress in the dock with his irresponsible comment and he must ensure that this does not happen ever again. The President is above politics and the office should always be respected.
