FACT CHECK: Opposition calls PM Modi “anti-women & anti-Dalit” for sitting when President presented Bharat Ratna to Advani; Here's truth-

New Delhi, April 1: President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on veteran politician Lal Krishna Advani. He paid a visit to senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani's residence and conferred him with the prestigious award due to the ailing health of LK Advani. However, the Opposition took this opportunity to create a controversy over it.

What happened?

Opposition made misleading claims to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also present at LK Advani's residence. After images were released of the felicitation ceremony, they pointed out that in the picture, President Droupadi Murmu is seen standing while PM Modi is sitting on a chair beside BJP veteran Advani, accusing PM Modi of disrespecting the President of India. Moreover, the Congress also accused PM Modi of such incidents showing the mentality of Modi and the BJP is “anti-women and anti-Dalit”.

The Congress said, "Once again PM Modi has deliberately insulted the tribal woman President. This is not the first time — when the new Parliament was inaugurated, she was not invited and the President was not seen even in the Pran Pratistha programme of Ram Temple".


One other such member of Opposition was Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi who wrote on X, "The lady standing is the President of India while the PM of India is seated. Caption the pic please?”


TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar went further and stated, "If this widely-circulated photo is true — then it speaks of PM’s very low culture — to make the President of India stand — while he sits and laughs. Govt must clarify!"


Congress general secretary and chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said the action was the gravest disrespect to the President. “The Prime Minister certainly should have been standing,” he said.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, while addressing the INDIA rally, criticised PM Modi’s action. “When the President was conferring Bharat Ratna to Advaniji, Modiji was sitting next to Advaniji but did not even stand in honour of the President,” he alleged.

Let's bust their claims.

Responding to such baseless allegations, Ashok Malik, who was the Press Secretary of President Ram Nath Kovind from 2017 to 2019, schooled her on the protocols of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"Don’t want to get into a political argument here, but Rashtrapati Bhavan protocol has the President and recipient both standing, while other guests — including the Vice-President and Prime Minister — are seated. If the recipient is elderly or indisposed he/she may stay seated. This event did not take place in Rashtrapati Bhavan, but obviously the usual protocol was followed," he clarified.


Backing this clarification, CEO of BlueKraft Digital Foundation, Akhilesh Mishra slammed the Opposition for misleading claims. "The level of illiteracy in Indian media is mind boggling. When President is standing and presenting an award, no one, repeat no one, is supposed to stand as per protocol (except President and person receiving award). That is why PM is sitting. Look at Rashtrapati Bhavan videos and learn," he said.

"As for Advani ji - the entire reason of conferring the award at home is his age and sickness. If he could stand, he would have as well gone to Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is despicable, the lengths to which haters and bigots will go to create a controversy," he added


Apart from President and Prime Minister, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu were also present on this occasion.

A day earlier, President Droupadi Murmu conferred Bharat Ratna on four eminent personalities, including two former Prime Ministers, Chaudhary Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao. Former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur and agronomist MS Swaminathan were also conferred with the country’s highest civilian award.