Denied permission to speak inside the Lok Sabha, expelled Parliamentarian Mahua Moitra struck a defiant note on the steps of the new Parliament building. Flanked by a range of Opposition leaders, from former Congress presidents Rahul and Sonia Gandhi to National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, she declared: “This is the beginning of your [Narendra Modi-led government’s] end. We will come back and see the end of you.”
The speed with which action was taken against her, Ms. Moitra said, demonstrates how important industrialist Gautam Adani is to the government and the lengths that the government will go to protect him.
Also Read: Mahua Moitra expelled from Lok Sabha after cash-for-query allegation
Drawing attention to the recently passed law to reserve seats for women in Parliament and the State legislatures, she said that while the 17th Lok Sabha has been historic, it will also be known for the “tenacious witch-hunt of one of the 78-women MPs.” She underlined that she was a “first timer” in Parliament, a “single woman with no political lineage”, and elected from a far-flung constituency on the Indo-Bangaladesh border.
‘Contradictory affidavits’
Ms. Moitra tore into the report of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, saying that its findings against her were based on two contradictory affidavits filed by two private individuals, adding that there was no evidence of her receiving cash or any other pecuniary benefits to ask questions in the House.
Dressed in a traditional Bengali sari, white with red borders, the former Krishnanagar MP read out from an address she had prepared to deliver in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Ethics Committee report. The senior Opposition leaders ceded centre-stage to her; they made no speeches, but instead stood silently, listening to Ms. Moitra.
“The two testimonies used to hang me are polar opposites to each other. The complainant [BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehradai) says I accepted cash and considerations from a businessman to ask questions in furtherance of his commercial interests. But the businessman’s [industrialist Darshan Hiranandani’s] suo moto affidavit says I pressurised him into uploading questions to further my agenda. The Ethics Committee, without getting to the root of this, has decided to hang me,” she argued.
The recommendation of expulsion was based, Ms. Moitra noted, solely on the grounds that she had shared her log-in details for the Lok Sabha; however, there are no rules governing the sharing of log-ins. “All of us MPs are conveyor belts to get questions from citizens and to voice that in Parliament,” she contended.
‘Centre protecting Adani’
Predicting that the Central Bureau of Investigation would now knock at her door and harass her for the next six months, The Trinamool Congress leader asked by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have not found the time to look into allegations of a ₹13,000 crore coal scam involving Mr. Adani.
“What is important is that if this Modi government thought by shutting me up they are going to do away with the Adani issue, let me tell you this that this kangaroo court has only shown the whole of India that the haste, the abuse of due process you have used, demonstrates how important Mr. Adani is to you, and what lengths you will go to harass a single woman MP into shutting her into submission,” Ms. Moitra said.
The Modi government and the BJP hate “minorities” and “women”, she said, pointing to the recent incident when BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri used abusive language against BSP MP Danish Ali, one of the 26 Muslim MPs in Parliament. The BJP, she pointed out, does not have a single Muslim MP.
“I am 49 years old. I will fight you for the next 30 years, inside and outside Parliament, in the gutter and on the street… This is the beginning of your end. We will come back and see the end of you,” she declared.
