On 8th December, Lok Sabha expelled Trinamool Congress’s MP Mahua Moitra based on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee in a cash-for-query case. Moitra was expelled hours after the Ethics Committee report was tabled in Lok Sabha. Following her expulsion, the left ecosystem, including the Western media, came to her rescue.
Financial Times published a report titled “Indian parliament expels firebrand female critic of Modi and Adani”, where Moitra was painted as a female victim. The report’s title projected a narrative that she was expelled for being a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and businessman Gautam Adani.
FT projected Moitra as a prominent female opposition MP known for her “criticism of PM Modi and Adani conglomerate”. The report further claimed that she was expelled for “immoral and indecent” conduct, which was, according to Moitra, trumped-up allegations. The report had a vague mention of the actual allegations, which was asking questions in the Parliament on behalf of Dubai-based Indian businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.
The report further mentioned that the matter came to the fore out of the “bitter custody battle” between pet rottweiler Henry and her ex-partner, Jai Anant Dehadrai. However, FT completely ignored the fact that Moitra not only shared her Lok Sabha credential with unauthorised personnel but also allegedly received benefits in the form of expensive gifts, cash and renovation of her house.
The Ethics Committee report stated her account was accessed from Dubai.
On 9th November, the Ethics Committee’s draft report accused Moitra of “unethical conduct”. The report stated that she shared her login credentials with unauthorised individuals. The draft revealed that Moitra made multiple trips to UAE, and her account was logged in 47 times from Dubai. The Ethics committee sought a report on IP addresses and emphasised the legal consequences of the MP’s action. The committee recommended her expulsion from the Lok Sabha. In the parts of the conversation that OpIndia accessed, Moitra accepted twice that she had shared credentials with Darshan Hiranandani.
Hiranandani revealed he paid Moitra to ask questions in Lok Sabha.
Hiranandani, in his affidavit, accepted paying for most of the questions asked by Moitra in the Lok Sabha in the form of cash and gifts. He also acknowledged that the TMC MP provided him with her Parliamentary login credentials, which he used to ask questions from the central government on her behalf. Hiranandani further revealed that the TMC MP was “over-ambitious”, and in her desperation to shoot to fame, she took the advice of her few friends who told her that the only way to be recognised at a national level is to target PM Modi and since the PM had an impeccable reputation, the only tenable way to do that was to malign Gautam Adani.
Mahuagate: TMC MP Mahua Moitra faces allegations of ‘cash for query’
On 14th October, the Indian political scene experienced a major tremor as BJP MP Nishkant Dubey wrote to the ethics committee seeking an inquiry against TMC MP Mahua Moitra in the ‘Cash for Query’ matter. He based his complaint on the letter written by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who alleged that most of the questions asked by the TMC MP in Lok Sabha directly or indirectly benefit businessman Darshan Hiranandani. Dehadrai also accused Moitra of “kidnapping” his pet dog Henry, adding another layer of complications to Mahuagate.
Moitra filed a case against Dubey and Dehadrai but never denied accepting gifts. Interestingly, she has also been accused of sharing her Lok Sabha credentials with Hiranandani so he can post questions independently. Hiranandani has reportedly turned approver in the case and submitted an affidavit suggesting the allegations against Moitra are true.
Dehadrai and Dubey were called to submit evidence of Moitra’s alleged wrongdoings in front of the ethics committee on 26th October. When the Ethics Committee initially called Moitra, she refused, claimed to have prior engagements and sought another date. She got another date for the hearing, and on the day of the hearing, she played the victim card while coming out, claiming she faced “cheerharan” like Draupadi from Mahabharat. Henry was later returned to Dehadrai.
