Delhi Confidential | How to address the President: Old debate resurfaces as Droupadi Murmu is sworn in

When there was a suggestion that a woman President could be addressed as “Rashtrapatni”, experts had outright rejected it.

How to address a President was a point of discussion even in the Constituent Assembly.

With Droupadi Murmu being sworn in as the new President, an old debate on what should be the term to address the President is back. When Pratibha Patil became the first woman President, there was an intense discussion on the term with women activists alleging that the word “Rashtrapati” was gender-biased and patriarchal. When there was a suggestion that a woman President could be addressed as “Rashtrapatni”, experts had outright rejected it.

Incidentally, how to address a President was a point of discussion even in the Constituent Assembly. Member K T Shah had suggested that a woman President could be called “Neta” and one suggestion was “Karnadhar (captain)” but Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru rejected them all and finalised on “Rashtrapati”. During the freedom movement, Congress presidents were addressed as “rashtrapati”.

Protest Mode

The Congress wanted to stage a “satyagraha” at Rajghat on Tuesday to protest against the ED summoning of party chief Sonia Gandhi but the party did not get permission from the authorities. The suspension of four Lok Sabha MPs also came unexpected. The party has now decided that its MPs will stage a protest in Parliament premises, hoping that other Opposition parties will also join in since many of them are facing the ED heat. Senior leaders and office-bearers will stage a “satyagraha” at the AICC headquarters itself instead of taking out a march, which earlier resulted in police detention.

Points of Order

The Rajya Sabha witnessed a record 14 points of order raised during the one-and-a-half hour debate on the Weapons of Mass Destruction Bill on Monday. As members of the ruling BJP made accusations against Opposition members for “misleading the nation” and “disrupting” House proceedings, the Opposition members called for points of order under Rules 110, 238, 239 and 259. AAP’s Raghav Chadha, TMC’s Derek O Brien and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, RJD’s Manoj Jha, CPM’s John Brittas, and Congress’s Pramod Tiwari raised the points of order against ruling party speakers. Sasmit Patra, who was in the Chair, assured members that the remarks will be examined, and if found unparliamentary, will be expunged from the records. O’Brien even raised a point of order against Leader of the House Piyush Goyal, saying he had spoken out of turn, standing in the third row instead of being seated in the first row, where he was meant to be, thus being in violation of the Rules of the House.