The Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday described remarks by “some prominent Congress party leaders” on President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament as “unfortunate and entirely avoidable.” It stated that the comments were in poor taste and had undermined the dignity of the high office.

Earlier in the day, President Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget Session. Speaking to reporters after the session, Sonia Gandhi, former Congress chief, said the President looked exhausted after her long customary speech.  

“The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing,” Mrs Gandhi said.

The BJP quickly labelled the comments as “derogatory” and pressed for an apology. 

“Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring,” read the statement from her office. 

“The President’s office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable,” it said, adding, “some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable,” the statement added.