Priyanka Gandhi defends Sonia’s ‘poor thing’ statement, saying intended no harm.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi supported her mother Sonia Gandhi after her “poor thing” comment against President Droupadi Murmu sparked widespread outrage. Shielding her mother from criticism over her statement, Priyanka Gandhi stated that Sonia was 78 years old and “meant no disrespect”.

“My mother is a 78-year-old lady; she has simply said that ‘the President read such a long speech, and she must have been tired, poor thing.’ She fully respects the President of India. I think it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is twisted by the media. They are both two respected people and older than us. It’s clear that she means no disrespect,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

On the first day of the Budget session, the former Congress president created a scuffle by claiming that the President was “getting very tired” during her speech, while her son, Rahul Gandhi, termed the speech “boring”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up the cudgels and slammed the Congress over Sonia Gandhi’s statements. He said that the President came from a lowly background, but that the Congress royal family “resorted to insulting her”. He also branded Sonia Gandhi’s statement against the President a “insult to tribal people”.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan responded to Sonia Gandhi’s statement, stating the Rajya Sabha MP’s words were “poor taste” and “unfortunate”.In a statement, the President’s press secretary stated that Droupadi Murmu, 66, was “not tired at any point” during her hour-long speech to begin Parliament’s Budget session.

The statement said the remarks hurt the dignity of the President’s office and were “further from the truth”. “The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring,” Rashtrapati Bhavan said.