The sting of the “sultans without a Sultanate” jibe at the Congress leadership was still ringing in the ears when the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha authenticated the observations of Jairam Ramesh. Never deemed worthy of anything more important than the commerce ministry in the Manmohan Singh regime, Anand Sharma arrogated unto himself the audacity to nitpick President Ram Nath Kovind’s first Independence Day message.

In addition to the transgression of dragging that high office into the political quagmire, there was some cowardice to Sharma’s unsolicited commentary ~ the President was unlikely to demean himself by joining issue. Yet, as Ramesh had pointed out, Sharma and other Congress leaders believe they had ruled under divine dispensation, are unable to reconcile themselves to being rejected by the electorate. Hence their sense of “entitlement” makes them think they are empowered to “take on” Mr Kovind, despite his comprehensive victory in the presidential poll.

The Congress frequently points out that messages from Mr Narendra Modi are ignored by the rank and file of the BJP, things are hardly any different “within” the former ruling party. A mature Mrs Sonia Gandhi did not “react” to the President’s Address, but Sharma deemed himself qualified to pass judgement. “Pedestrian and uninspiring” was Sharma’s assessment.

He fleshed out his argument by listing shortcomings of the present government, and opined that Mr Kovind had ignored those issues ~ in much the same way that Opposition members move amendments to the Motion of Thanks for the President’s Address to the budget session of Parliament.

The move could be faulted on two counts: there was no “motion” before the people, and the Address to Parliament is a government-drafted exercise while on Independence Day and Republic Day the President “speaks for himself”. Sharma is thus denied a “fig leaf” to cover up his stepping out of line by contending it was not a personal attack but a critique of the NDA government’s functioning. That technicality apart, Sharma and other Congress leaders seem to think that only their “priorities” register, and slam the highlighting of issues which others might deem more important.

As proven by the Congress’ criticism that in his “acceptance speech” Mr Kovind did not mention Nehru ~ as if the aura of the nation’s first prime minister was dependent on what latter-day leaders said about him.

It is likely that Sharma’s criticism of the President’s speech will be appreciated in the Janpath-Akbar Road section of Lutyens’ New Delhi (he proceeded to also pick holes in Mr Narendra Mod’s Red Fort message) because it could have been an attempt at settling scores. Smriti Irani ~ the new “anti-family” firebrand ~ had ridiculed Sonia’s participation in the Lok Sabha debate to mark the anniversary of the call to Quit India.