‘Rashtrapatni’ remark was slip of tongue, will apologise to President : Adhir

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, in the soup for the ‘rashtrapatni’ remark which he claimed was a “slip of tongue”, on Thursday said he will apologise to President Droupadi Murmu but not to “these pakhandis” (hypocrites). He also accused the BJP of making a “mountain out of a molehill” over the issue.

Chowdhury said the term was used only once by mistake and he never intended any disrespect to the President even as the BJP stalled both Houses of Parliament and asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to apologise to the nation.

“I inadvertently used the word ‘rashtrapatni’ just once and it was a slip of the tongue. I never meant any disrespect to the President,” he told reporters outside Parliament. “What should I do? I said it and realised I uttered a wrong word. I even looked for mediapersons to request them to not focus on it. However, I couldn’t find them,” Chowdhury said, a day after making the remark.

He later said, “I am a Bengali and not used to Hindi. I made a mistake, I agree.” The Congress leader said he has sought time from the President the day after tomorrow and will apologise to her if she has been offended by his inadvertent comments. “I have sought time from the President and will apologise to her, but not to these ‘pakhandis’,” the Congress leader said, referring to the BJP.