Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury refers to President as ‘Rashtrapatni’, BJP demands apology

“You stand guilty of insulting the supreme commander of armed forces, you stand guilty of humiliating a tribal leader…The Congress party cannot stand the honour given to a tribal, it is not able to digest a poor tribal woman becoming the President of India,” Irani said in the Lok Sabha even as BJP MPs protested on the floor of the House.

In the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman said calling the President “Rashtrapatni” was a “sexist insult” because “Rasthrapati is a gender agnostic word.”

#WATCH | “There is no question of apologising. I had mistakenly said ‘Rashtrapatni’…the ruling party in a deliberate design trying to make mountain out of a molehill,” says Congress MP Adhir R Chowdhury on his ‘Rashtrapatni’ remark against President Murmu pic.twitter.com/suZ5aoR59u

— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2022

Both Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned due to protests from the ruling party MPs over the issue.

Earlier, BJP MPs held a demonstration at Gate No 4 against what they termed was “an insult” to the President.

Chowdhury, however, was defiant. “There is no question of apologising. I had mistakenly said ‘Rashtrapatni’…the ruling party in a deliberate design trying to make a mountain out of a molehill,” Chowdhury told reporters.