E-Paper
Mahua Moitra takes on ‘fearful’ Modi govt with Netaji, hits out at Birla over chaos during speech
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, later spoke about how chaos reigned during the later part of her speech and when she confronted Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla over the same, the latter said it was his greatness that she was even given 13 minutes to speak in first place.
Mahua Moitra, the Trinamool Congress MP who addressed Parliament on Thursday, said she “vehemently” disagrees with the President's assessment of the state of union in India. She added that the current dispensation, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), “wants to alter history", is “fearful of the future”, and “mistrusts the present".
“The President, early on in his address, speaks about freedom fighters who secured India's rights. He speaks of Gurudev Bahadur… Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, but this is just lip service. In reality, recalling India's past, a past of decency, plurality, (and) secularism, makes this government very insecure,” Moitra said.
Moitra, later spoke about how chaos reigned during the later part of her speech and when she confronted Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla over the same, the latter said it was his greatness that she was even given 13 minutes to speak in first place.
Also Read | ‘2 Indias are…’: Kiren Rijiju continues attack on Rahul Gandhi over LS speech
A clipping showed the uproar in the House wherein she was seen repeatedly mentioning that she has a total of 13 minutes to speak in Parliament. The TMC MP was seen pleading with her fellow parliamentarians to finish her speech, even as Deputy Speaker Rama Devi looked disinterested for the same.
Later, Moitra posted on Twitter that the Lok Sabha Speaker had allocated her “at least 13 minutes” but when confronted, he alleged “he was not in chair; hence can't be blamed”.
“When further cornered, he said ‘It was my greatness that I even allowed you 13 mins in 1st place.’ Unbelievable,” she added in her tweet.
Earlier in her speech, the fiery MP from Bengal referred to President Ram Nath Kovind mentioning Netaji multiple times in his speech, and said she would like to remind the public that the freedom fighter is the same person who said “the government of India should have an absolutely neutral and impartial attitude towards all religions".
“Would Netaji have approved a Haridwar Dharma Sansad that issues blood-curdling calls for Muslim genocide?” she said.
Referring to the ‘Freedom House 2021’ report that changed India's freedom status from “free” to “partly free”, and the Global Media Index wherein India remains at the 142nd spot of 180 nations. “India remains one of the most dangerous places globally for journalists today,” she added.
The TMC MP said the current government fears an India where citizens are comfortable in their own skin and spoke about the ban on non-vegetarian vendors in Gujarat's Ahmedabad. Moitra said the regime fears an India where a Jain boy can hide from his home and “enjoy a kathi kebab on the street”.
Also Read | ‘Not completely accurate’: Natwar Singh counters Rahul's remarks on China, Pak
In December last year, the Gujarat high court had pulled up the BJP-led Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for the ban and said the civic body cannot decide people's food choices.
Moitra further talked about the extension of tenures of the heads of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the ongoing controversy over IAS cadre rules.
Regarding the now-repealed three farm laws, the TMC MP said they were rolled back more with the fear of not losing votes in western Uttar Pradesh than with the remorse that “700 farmers had passed away”.
The TMC MP also demanded the immediate removal of Union minister of state (MoS) of home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra over the involvement of his son, Ashish Mishra, in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that had led to the death of eight people, including four farmers, last year.
She further hit out at the BJP-led Narendra Modi government over the Pegasus spyware issue and said it is in “splendid isolation” with the matter, even as leading media houses and Amnesty, among others, have spoken about it.
Earlier in the day, Moitra took to Twitter to throw a dare at the BJP ahead of her speech in the Lok Sabha, asking them to “drink some gaumutra (cow urine) shots'.
