Mohua Moitra Is Defending The Indefensible
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2023-11-03 05:29:56
About the Author
TMC leader Mohua Moitra has landed in a soup. She was found to have (and she has subsequently admitted to doing so) shared her Parliament website login credentials to a private citizen who was not part of her team to post questions on her behalf and more damagingly she did so in return of gifts. Whatever explanation she is giving is not holding good for the simple reason that although MPs do share login information with their team, they are not allowed to do so with outsiders. Moitra's team has taken pains to point out that the login information shared was only to post questions and was not a security threat as alleged by the BJP.
Moitra first tried to justify her action by saying that it was common for MPs to share login information with selected individuals who wanted them to ask questions so that they could post them on their own. But her contention is not true. While some other MPs might be doing so, it is not a common thing. It is a breach of privilege.
Then she tried to say that the favours she received from the person to whom she gave her login information and who subsequently posted questions to be asked in her name in Parliament (many of these questions were posted from a Dubai IP address) were very small like some makeup items and a scarf. Does that in anyway reduce her intransigence? For, she is admitting to receiving these items but maybe hiding information about other things that she received.
She has said that she wants to cross examine the person who has filed a sworn affidavit. The Ethics Committee will do so and if needed afford her an opportunity to cross examine the person. She will also get the chance to cross examine in court as she has already filed a criminal defamation case against several persons.
Moitra, along with several opposition members, walked out of the questioning session with the Ethics Committee as she felt they were asking "inappropriate" and filthy questions. She termed the exercise "vastraharan". The Committee has denied any such questioning and has said they just wanted to bring out her relationship with the complainant. They said she was trying to play the 'victim card'.
There is no denying that what Moitra has done is morally and ethically wrong. That is why even her party is not defending her.
