Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was on Friday expelled from the Lok Sabha after allegations that she took bribes in exchange for asking questions in Parliament, PTI reported.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel Moitra based on a recommendation by the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee, which found her guilty of having shared her credentials to the Parliamentary website with others and accepting gifts in exchange for favours. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
“This House accepts the conclusions of the committee that Mahua Moitra’s conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP,” Speaker Om Birla said. “So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP.”
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, reportedly Moitra’s estranged partner, have accused the Trinamool Congress MP of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament.
The ethics panel had adopted its report recommending Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha at a meeting on November 9. The committee had called Moitra’s actions “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal”.
Six panel members, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur, supported the report while four Opposition leaders submitted their dissent notes against it.
On Friday, Birla did not allow Moitra to speak inside Parliament even as the Opposition MPs demanded that she be given a chance.
Moitra, after her expulsion, alleged that the Ethics Committee found her guilty of breaching a code that does not exist. The Trinamool Congress leader said that the committee punished her for a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in the House.
Moitra also said that the findings of the panel are based on the written testimonies of two private citizens, Dehadrai and Hiranandani, whose versions contradict each other. Moitra also said that she was not allowed to cross-examine both the men to verify their claims.
“The 17th Lok Sabha has indeed been historic,” Moitra told reporters outside Parliament on Friday. “It is a House which saw the passage of the Women’s Reservation Rescheduling Bill, but it has presided over the most tenacious witch-hunt of one of 78 women MPs.”
The legislator from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar said that the Lok Sabha has weaponised the parliamentary committee.
“Ironically, the Ethics Committee, which was set up to serve as a moral compass for members; instead it has been abused egregiously today to do exactly what it was never meant to do, which is to bulldoze the Opposition and become another weapon,” she said.
Moitra also pointed out that while she was expelled from Lok Sabha, BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who used communal slurs against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali continues to remain a member.
Moitra was joined by Opposition MPs outside Parliament, including Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi, who expressed solidarity with her.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said that the expulsion of Moitra from Lok Sabha has opened the Opposition’s eyes to the vindictive politics of the BJP, reported ANI. The West Bengal chief minister extended her support to Moitra and said that her party and the Opposition INDIA coalition stands strongly behind her.
“They [Centre] didn’t allow Mahua to take her own stand to explain her situation,” Banerjee said. “Without taking any justice they have done full injustice. It is a betrayal to constitutional rights. They have ditched Parliament and Constitution because they are in majority.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said that the charges that have been hurled at Moitra are so flimsy that they do not stand any scrutiny. He said that the charges of sharing login credentials are not strong enough since MPs do not keep those details with themselves.
“I would ask is there any MP who is keeping the login for himself and is there a protocol, are there rules guiding the use of login ID,” Brittas asked. “No and the second thing is that she took gifts from industrialists. Is there an MP who must have not taken any gift? So it is quite unfortunate.”
Saravanan Annadurai, joint secretary and spokesperson for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, said that Moitra’s expulsion was draconian and that it exposed the BJP’s misogynist mindset, ANI reported. He alleged that the Trinamool Congress MP was only targeted because she asked questions about the Adani Group.
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