For the last few weeks, the Congress has been abuzz about the cash for query allegations against Mahua Moitra, TMC MP. As it is, Moitra has always been in and out of the headlines, either for her fiery speeches in Parliament or for her personal life. Unfortunately as this is the era of social media, nothing is off bounds. All lines are blurred between the personal and the professional. In fact, the recent allegations against her seem to be fueled by her personal life which has spilled on to the professional.
The most serious allegation against her is the cash for query charge. It does not matter whom she was targeting through her questions in parliament – though in this case, the target could not have been more loaded or high profile. She seems to have chosen Gujarat based businessman Gautam Adani for his alleged closeness to the Prime Minister. The target was clearly the Prime Minister’s Office. The allegations are that she used the help of a (former?) close friend and a business rival of Adani’s to help frame the questions that she raised in parliament to target the Gujarat based industrialist. While all MPs do their research before raising an issue in the House, in this case it seems that what Mahua was doing was more than research. She is also alleged to have breached Parliamentary Protocol and allowed the said businessman Darshan Hiranandani access to her parliamentary email to upload questions from her log in. That is indeed a serious breach, and the Parliament’s Ethics Committee is looking into it.
Her own party the Trinamool Congress has distanced itself from Mahua, stating that it will react only after the Ethics Committee gives its verdict. As it is Mahua had few friends within the TMC for some colleagues were jealous of her spectacular rise while she rubbed some of the others the wrong way, fighting over turf and party positions.
Like the TMC, one should let the Ethics Committee do its job regarding the cash for query allegations. It is usually women who bear the brunt of this kind of an attack – whether it is Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani, BSP Chief Mayawati, the late Jayalalitha or any other firebrand leader – tells its own tale. Infact Mamata Bannerjee, the TMC party chief herself has been at the receiving end of several character assassination attempts.
With each day bringing fresh revelations this is a saga that’s not going to end anytime soon. The key point here is will the focus be more on her personal life or her professional conduct.