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Sena backs TMC MP Mahua Moitra over her right to privacy
In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, Sena said such actions prove that “dictatorship is most scared”. It said the government has shown its weakness by allegedly putting the MP under surveillance
Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena on Tuesday hit out at the Centre for allegedly putting Trinamool Congress (TMC) Parliament member Mahua Moitra under surveillance, saying such actions prove that “dictatorship is most scared”. In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena said the government has shown its weakness by doing so.
The editorial heaped praise on Moitra and said she has made the government sweat. It added the government is “scared of a woman”.
Moitra wrote to the Delhi police commissioner on February 13 seeking removal of the armed security personnel outside her home days after she took on the government in Lok Sabha and said the country is in under a state on “undeclared emergency”. She wrote that “it appears to me that I am under some sort of surveillance”. Moitra called herself an “ordinary citizen”, who does not require security cover.
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The editorial questioned what kind of culture does the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) want to bring in politics. “If they are treading on the path that nobody else should remain except them, then they have not understood the mood of the people. Even today, there are people who fearlessly battle in difficult situations. Many people like [West Bengal chief minister] Mamata Banerjee, [her Maharashtra counterpart] Uddhav Thackeray, [Nationalist Congress Party leader] Sharad Pawar, [the] Badal [family] of Punjab and Rajesh Tikait, a farmer leader, are fighting fearlessly. Even if the government has the machinery to monitor, the battle will not stop.”
The editorial said Moitra has ripped the government’s veil.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the Centre was keeping an eye on Moitra after she exposed the BJP government. He backed Moitra over her right to privacy and said that her questions to the Delhi police on why she is being given protection without seeking it are valid. “Mahua Moitra has complained that she is under surveillance and it is done through various means. We are also under surveillance because the government holds the strings of various agencies...”
There was no immediate response from the BJP.
