On Thursday (19th October), Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra issued a two-page ‘statement’ soon after Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of Hiranandani Group submitted an affidavit before the Ethics Committee of Parliament. Moitra called the letter a ‘joke’ and alleged that “a gun was put to Hiranandani’s head” to ‘force’ him to sign a white piece of paper with no letterhead.
She questioned that since Hiranandani has not been summoned by the Ethics Committee of Parliament or any investigative agency, then to whom has he submitted his approver affidavit to.
“The affidavit is on white paper and not on official letterhead or notarized. Why would one of India’s most respected/ educated businessmen sign a letter like this on white paper unless a gun was put to his head to do it?” Moitra’s statement reads.
The TMC MP went on to blame the ruling BJP and businessman Gautam Adani for Darshan Hiranandani’s letter claiming that it was drafted by someone in the Primer Minister’s Office (PMO). She claimed that some “half-wit” in the PMO who “doubles up as a creative writer at the BJP’s IT cell” has linked the names of all the opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani in her alleged corruption.
Jai Ma Durga. pic.twitter.com/Z2JsqOARCR
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 19, 2023
As reported earlier, Darshan Hiranandani in his affidavit mentioned that the anti-Modi brigade of journalists like Sucheta Dalal, Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor; and foreign media outlets like The NewYork Times and BBC fed her with ‘unverified information’ which she, in turn, shared with Hiranandani who used the Lok Sabha MP’s Parliamentary login to ask questions from the central government.
In response to this, the TMC MP claimed that it is the Modi government that is deliberately targeting people who are staunch opponents of the government as she names journalist Sucheta Dalal and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor.
Mahua Moitra’s ‘statement’ is no less than an Indian daily soap script with mentions of words like, “Samdhi” and “jilted-ex”.
“Shardul Shroff is the brother of Cyril Shroff who has had a bitter separation of business from him. Cyril Shroff is Gautam Adani’s “samdhi” and was on the SEBI’s committee in total conflict of interest. Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor are both people the government targets relentlessly. Sucheta Dalal is an investigative journalist who is always exposing the government. Clearly someone said “Sabh ka naam ghusaa do, aisa mauka phir nahi ayega!” Moitra claimed in her statement.
Mahua Moitra goes on to give an ‘example’ to substantiate her assertion that the affidavit was drafted by the PMO and not Darshan Hiranandani. She claimed that somehow Darshan Hiranandani was compelled by the BJP government to sign the affidavit and was threatened that his government businesses would be stopped. Moitra mentions about Hiranandani Group’s recent projects in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Interestingly, while the TMC MP asserted that there is no way a wealthy businessman like Darshan Hiranandani who has access to PMO and ministers would be compelled by a first-time MP like her, she did not deny taking gifts from the businessman. Moreover, she did not refute the most controversial accusation pertaining to the alleged “cash-for-query” scam, which is sharing her parliament login credentials with Hiranandani to target Gautam Adani.
“For example, Paragraph 12 claims Darshan gave in to my demands because he was fearful of displeasing me. Darshan and his father run one of India’s largest business groups and their recent projects in UP and Gujarat have been inaugurated by the CM of Uttar Pradesh and by the Prime Minister. Darshan accompanied the PM abroad as part of his business delegation very recently. Why would such a wealthy successful businessman who enjoys direct access to every Minister and the PMO be coerced by a first-time Opposition MP into giving her gifts and giving into her demands? It is totally illogical and only cements the truth that this letter was drafted by the PMO and not Darshan,” Moitra said.
Mahua Moitra claimed that the BJP has been looking for an opportunity to shut her up on the Adani issue. She further raised questions over her “jilted-ex” Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai forwarding the letter to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against whom she has filed pending privilege motions.
“Jai Dehadrai is not some “Supreme Court lawyer” who has done painstaking research on me. He is a jilted ex with an acrimonious personal history with me who wanted to somehow get back at me. If indeed he was witness to all of my corruption why was he with me during the time and why did he wait till now to make it public? Also if he wrote to CBI and the LS Speaker, why out of 543 MPs would he forward the letters to Nishikant Dubey, a man whom I have repeatedly exposed in Parliament and outside, and against whom I have filed pending privilege motions? Why were the contents of Jai’s unverified letter leaked by Nishikant immediately to PTI and the contents used to create a media circus before any investigation was done?” Moitra said.
She went on to claim that the PMO “held a proverbial gun to Darshan and his father’s heads and gave them 20 minutes to sign this letter sent to them.” She alleged that the PMO threatened the Hiranandanis to give in to their demands or the “CBI would raid them and all government business would stop and all PSU bank financing would be stopped immediately.”
The TMC MP asserted that Darshan Hiranandani signed the affidavit to save his family businesses and employees. She concludes her statement by saying that despite the efforts to isolate her, she would continue to raise questions regarding the alleged corruption of Gautam Adani.
In his affidavit, Darshan Hiranandani had claimed that Mahua Moitra bonded extremely well with leaders of the Opposition like Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Pinaki Mishra and he too thought he could use her clout to get support from opposition leaders, which is why he gave her expensive gifts and fulfilled all her exorbitant demands ranging from gifting her expensive luxury items, providing support on the renovation of her officially allotted bungalow in Delhi, travel expenses, holidays, etc, apart from providing secretarial and logistical help for her travels within India and to different parts of the world.
The controversy surrounding TMC MP Mahua Moitra
On 15th October, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha (MP) Nishikant Dubey leveled serious allegations against Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, saying she took cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask specific questions in the Parliament. MP Dubey has submitted a formal complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking an inquiry against Moitra and urged the Speaker for her immediate suspension.
