Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who stormed out of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee meeting on Thursday during a hearing on the cash-for-query allegations against her, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging that she has been subjected to the proverbial “Vastraharan” by the panel chairman in the presence of all members of the committee. She also alleged “unethical, sordid, demeaning and prejudiced behaviour meted out” to her during the meeting.
Opposition members of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee stormed out of its meeting along with Moitra as they accused its chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar of asking her "indecent personal" questions, a charge he said was motivated to shield the parliamentarian from queries into her "unethical conduct".
Moitra, who pleaded innocence to bribery allegations, termed Sonkar's questions to her "filthy" following the walkout while he defended the queries, saying they were related to businessman Darshan Hiranandani's affidavit in which he admitted to giving her bribes and using her parliamentary login ID to ask questions on her behalf.
{{/usCountry}}Moitra, who pleaded innocence to bribery allegations, termed Sonkar's questions to her "filthy" following the walkout while he defended the queries, saying they were related to businessman Darshan Hiranandani's affidavit in which he admitted to giving her bribes and using her parliamentary login ID to ask questions on her behalf.
{{/usCountry}}In the letter to Birla, Moitra also alleged that Sonkar, instead of asking questions pertinent to the matter, exhibited a preconceived bias by questioning her in a malicious and defamatory way.
"I write to you in great anguish today to update you on the unethical, sordid, and prejudiced behaviour meted out to me at the hearing of the Ethics Committee by the Chairman. I have been subjected to the proverbial 'vastraharan' by him in the presence of all members of the Committee," Moitra said in her strongly worded letter.
"The committee ought to designate itself under a name other than the Ethics committee as it has no ethics and morality left. Instead of asking questions pertinent to the subject, the Chairman exhibited a preconceived bias by maliciously and clearly in a defamatory way questioning me, so much so that 5 of the 11 members present walked out and boycotted the proceedings in protest at his shameful conduct," the TMC firebrand MP alleged.
Sonkar said the committee had been tasked with conducting a comprehensive probe into the matter and that instead of cooperating, Moitra turned angry along with opposition members and they used "objectionable words" and made unethical claims against him.
Moitra has been accused of asking questions, which were keyed in through her parliamentary account, at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani. It was also alleged that she shared her login credentials with the Dubai-based businessman. The complaint against Moitra was filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
In her letter, Moitra also requested the Lok Sabha Secretariat to disclose the regulations governing the sharing of one's login and password of the portal to merely type out questions, adding that nothing could be submitted without an OTP.
"Why were these rules never given to MPs and if they were why is every single MP sharing this id and login with numerous people?" she said.
"I repeatedly protested on record that while the Chairman was welcome to ask me any question relevant to the enquiry- namely on the login and on those allegations of gifts for which evidence, or rather complete lack of it, existed he could not ask me detailed personal questions making insinuations about my dignity as a woman," the MP added.
“After more than 2 hours of this sort of questioning, which seemed to get worse with each question, 5 of the Committee members said they would not be party to this ‘Cheerharan (Disrobing of a woman)’ and boycotted the proceedings and walked out. I too placed on record that while I respect the proceedings of the Committee, it was against my personal dignity and rights to be subjected to this filthy line of questioning by the Chairman who seemed to get vicarious enjoyment from his words, and excused myself from the proceedings,” the TMC leader alleged.
“At the very onset I would like to state that the complainant has provided NO evidence of any cash, the alleged 'bribe-giver' Mr. Hiranandani has made NO mention of any cash in his suo-moto affidavit. In respect of gifts I have already stated on record publicly and in the Committee that Mr. Hiranandani is a close friend from before I became an MP. The sum total of all gifts I have received from him are - 1. One Scarf 2. Some items of make-up 3. Use of car and driver when I have visited Bombay on maybe 4-5 occasions in the past 5 years and maybe twice in Dubai and 4. A set of very basic architectural drawings/advice on making my government accommodation vastu compliant which were then executed by the engineers and contractors of the CPWD (a government unit) with no payment made by Mr. Hiranandani or indeed anyone else apart from the CPWD,” she said.