New Delhi, July 29 Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stoked a controversy on July 28 by describing President Droupadi Murmu as 'Rashtrapatni'.
Chowdhury's derogatory remarks about the newly elected president drove his party into the controversy as the ruling BJP grabbed the opportunity to corner the main opposition party both inside and outside Parliament.
Union Minister Smriti Irani and other BJP MPs demanded an apology not only from Chowdhury but also from Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Sensing that the offensive remarks about the president of the country have snowballed into a major controversy, Chowdhury owned up to the mistake and said that the incident happened because of a slip of tongue. The Congress leader further said that he will personally tender an apology to President Murmu, but not to the BJP.
Chowdhury's disparaging remarks about the nation's first tribal woman president reflect the decline in the level of political discourse in the country. Personalised attacks and usage of unsavoury language by the politic during rallies and media interactions has become common.
Sonia Gandhi's infamously used phrase "Maut Ka Saudagar" for Primw Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal calling PM Modi "a coward and psychopath" and PM Modi's "Didi O Didi" comment on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are some of the examples that display the fall in the standard of political discourse in the country.
CVoter - IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide opinion poll on behalf of to know people's views about Chowdhury's remarks and deterioration in the Indian political discourse.
During the survey, while people were divided in their opinion on the issue, a bigger proportion of respondents 57 per cent said that the insulting remarks of the Congress leader about the country's president reflect the decline in the level of political discourse in the country. However, 43 per cent of respondents disagreed with the view.
The survey further revealed that while the majority of NDA voters 62 per cent believe that Chowdhury's controversial remarks are the manifestation of the shallow nature of political discourse of the country's present generation of politic, views of opposition supporters were divided on the issues.
During the survey, while opposition voters were divided on the issue, a substantial proportion of them 53 per cent opined that the Congress leader's comments show that the country has been witnessing abject lowering of political discourse. At the same time, 47 per cent of the opposition supporters did not share the sentiment.
Similarly, while both the urban and rural voters were divided in their views on the issue, a bigger proportion of voters from both these categories opined that Chowdhury's remarks demonstrated a fall in the level of political discourse in the country. During the survey, 56 per cent urban voters and 55 per cent rural respondents held this view.
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