No Complaint On Disrespect To First Lady: Press Secy To Prez

Bhubaneswar: Amid row over the alleged disrespect to the First Lady Savita Kovind in Jagannath temple in Puri, Press Secretary to the President of India Ashok Malik has made it clear that no such complaint was lodged by the Rashtrapati Bhawan with the local administration.

In an interview to India Today, Malik maintained that no such letter was written on behalf of the President on disrespect shown to him and his wife by the servitors during their visit to the Jagannath Temple on March 18.

Asserting that the reports published in several electronic and print media about this matter are utterly baseless, he said let any person, who claims that the letter has been issued by the Rashtrapati Bhawan Communique, come up with tangible evidence.

Malik further said though some servitors had breached the security protocol and tried to meet the president inside the temple, they were prohibited by the security personnel. “However, there was no complaint by the President as the matter had ended there,” he pointed out.

Notably, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a statement to the media on this issue on Friday had also claimed that no letter was issued by the Rashtrapati Bhawan. “As far as I know, no such incident had occurred during the visit of the President and his wife to the Jagannath Temple,” he had said.

Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on June 28 had also denied receiving any such complaint from the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Priorto the statement of the chief secretary, SJTA chief administrator Pradipta Mohapatra had told the media that since the temple administration has not received any letter from the Rashtrapati Bhawan regarding the incident, the matter should end there.

Some local news channels and print media had reported that the Rashtrapati Bhawan Communique, in a letter to the temple administration had stated that three servitors had allegedly misbehaved with Savita Kovind, while she was offering prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on March 18. The Khuntia Mekap Sevayats present there allegedly did not allow the President and his wife in and brushed against them.

Tags: first lady