A day after a verbal spat broke out between Congress’s interim President Sonia Gandhi and BJP leader Smriti Irani in the lower house of the parliament, BJP leader Rama Devi who was approached by Sonia Gandhi, criticized her for her conduct with Irani. “Sonia Gandhi shouldn’t have acted outrageously in the parliament”, Rama Devi said on July 28.
According to the reports, the saga began after Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Adhir Chowdhury referred to the newly elected President Droupadi Murmu as ‘Rashtrapatni’ while addressing the press. Irani on Thursday then slammed Congress and demanded an apology for maliciously targeting President Droupadi Murmu and said that the country knows that the opposition party is anti-tribal, anti-Dalit, and anti-women.
Irani also led the protest in Lok Sabha against the blatant remarks by Chowdhury and sought an apology from both Chowdhury and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She also slammed Congress for disrespecting the newly elected President. Amid the protest, Sonia Gandhi who was present in the house approached BJP MP Rama Devi and asked ‘What is my fault? Why is my name being dragged in this?”. Seeing this, Smriti Irani intervened to know what was the matter that was being discussed when Sonia Gandhi was outraged and said, “you don’t talk to me”.
Full marks to Rama Devi for ably handling Italian journalist of @ABPNews & others pic.twitter.com/jTFIp5qusW
— iMac_too (@iMac_too) July 28, 2022
Rama Devi while talking to the media on July 28 said that Gandhi’s fault was that she had selected Chowdhury as the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha. “When Smriti Ji said that you (Gandhi) should know that such a thing has been said to a President by your (Congress) leader. You should ask him about the fault who you’ve chosen as your leader. To this, Sonia Gandhi said I am not talking to you. On this, Smriti Irani said that you have come to ask Rama Ji, then why will I not speak and then the argument started”, Rama Devi stated.
Rama Devi further said that Sonia Gandhi had delivered her statement in anger, which she should not have spoken. “She should have asked Congress’ leader instead that how he dared call the President as ‘Rashtrapatni’, that too not once but twice”. She also cleared that Smriti Irani was not angry, but Sonia Gandhi was angry about who was going out of the house, but then returned. “If Adhir Ranjan had apologized, the matter would have ended. Instead of getting infuriated, Sonia should admit her mistake and control her leader”, the BJP leader from Sheohar in Bihar said.
The matter was also given attention by BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman who led similar protests in the upper house of the parliament. “Some of our Lok Sabha MPs felt threatened when Sonia Gandhi came up to our senior leader Rama Devi to find out what was happening during which, one of our members approached there and she (Sonia Gandhi) said you don’t talk to me”, Sitharaman said.
#WATCH | Some of our Lok Sabha MPs felt threatened when Sonia Gandhi came up to our senior leader Rama Devi to find out what was happening during which, one of our members approached there & she (Sonia Gandhi) said “You don’t talk to me”: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pic.twitter.com/WxFnT2LTvk
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2022
BJP women members were seated in the front rows in the Lok Sabha as they led the protests in the House against Chowdhury’s remarks. To note, India has had a female President before. The first time this happened, there was a slight dispute about how would the state address the Head of State, reportedly because ‘Rashtrapati’ has a patriarchial connotation. The dispute then had quickly died down once it was decided that terminology like Rashtrapati and Sabhapati (Speaker) are believed to be gender-neutral under India’s constitutional structure.
Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena supremo who had supported Patil’s presidential candidacy also had attempted to resolve the controversy. In a statement published in his Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna in June 2007, he had said, “I believe there is no need for a ‘Pati’ or a ‘Patni,’ and Pratibhatai should be known as Rashtradhyaksh,” he had stated.
