Mahua Moitra: Trinamool's firebrand MP who is under fire

Not one to mince words, Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra recently waded into a major controversy over Goddess Kali by opining that she sees the deity as a “meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess.”

Her statement invited widespread condemnation from the Hindutva brigade and believers with multiple FIRs being filed against her across the country.

But Moitra has stood unwavered by alleged threats and criticisms, daring the BJP to “bring it on.”

“Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need back up forces,” she said in a tweet.

Also read: Mahua Moitra pointed out 7 signs of fascism in India

On Sunday, she took a dig at BJP’s Bengal unit’s co-in charge, asking him to tell his “masters” to stop commenting on “things they have no clue about” after Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to goddess Kali in his speech during the centenary celebrations of Swami Atmasthananda.

“Would advise BJP Troll-In-Charge for Bengal to tell his masters to stop commenting on things they have no clue about. Didi O Didi got them the boot. Now Maa O Maa will get them a foot on their chest,” Moitra tweeted.

Who is Mahua Moitra?

Born in Cachar district of Assam in 1979 to a family of tea planters, Moitra did her schooling in Kolkata. She graduated in economics and mathematics from Mount Holyoke College South Hadley in Massachussetts, US, and worked as an investment banker at the prestigious JPMorgan Chase in New York and London.

She was the vice president of the company when Moitra decided to take a leap into politics in 2009.

After a brief stint with the Indian Youth Congress, which she left over poor organisational presence at the grassroots, Moitra switched to the Trinamool Congress in 2010. She won the Assembly elections from the Karimpur constituency in Nadia district in the 2016 polls.

In 2019, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Krishnanagar seat of Bengal.

Rise to fame

Moitra, 47, shot to fame in 2019 through a fiery speech that she made in Parliament, listing out the “danger signs of early fascism in India,” indirectly accusing the BJP-led government of bringing fascism to Indian shores.

“The very nature of the overwhelmingness of this mandate (the win of the BJP), of the totality of this mandate, makes it necessary for us to be heard today, for the voice of dissent to be heard today,” she had said.

The speech went viral, giving an impetus to the voice of the Opposition which had been struggling to find the right words against the Narendra Modi government.

Also read: 10-minute deliveries: TMC’s Mahua Moitra to raise issue in Parliament

Moitra has ever since countered the Centre in Parliament on a slew of issues – on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens to demanding the government to share details of the expenses made from the PM Cares Fund with the Parliament.

Foot-in mouth episodes

Known for her well-articulated speeches in Parliament, Moitra has also received flak for offending fellow Parliamentarians, journalists and communities through her opinions, which at times border on the flippant and aggressive.

In February this year, she snapped at Lok Sabha’s presiding officer Rama Devi, for interrupting her mid-speech and urging her to “speak with love” and “not get so angry.”

Even though Moitra initially took the Speaker’s advice in her stride, she later told Devi that the latter was not the “moral science teacher for Lok Sabha.”

“And who is Chair to interrupt me (taking up my valuable time) to lecture me on whether I should speak with gussa (amger) or pyar (love)? None of your business Madam. You can only correct me on the rules. You are NOT the moral science teacher of LS,” Moitra had tweeted.

In 2020, the Parliamentarian riled up the media community after a video of her calling a reporter “do paisa worth” went viral.

In the video, Moitra was seen asking a reporter to leave the venue of a party meeting in Nadia.

“Who has called ‘du poisar’ (two-paisa worth) press here? Remove these elements from the venue. Some party members invite them to closed-door meetings to see their faces on TV,” she was seen saying in the video.

Also read: No action against Mahua Moitra for LS speech criticising ex-CJI

While the Kolkata Press Club condemned the behaviour, asking Moitra to tender an apology, the TMC distanced itself from her comments.

Moitra worsened the matter by tweeting, “I apologise for the mean, hurtful, accurate things I said…My meme editing skills are improving,” much to the chagrin of the press club whose Kolkata president Snehasis Sur who said the media community was hurt by the way she made light of her initial remarks.

Fall from grace

In 2021, Moitra was made the Goa in-charge of TMC. While the party’s poor performance in the Assembly polls that year reflected her apparent failure to consolidate voters, her popularity among party insiders had eroded much before that.

Before the elections, she was censured by party supremo Mamata Banerjee during an administrative review meeting in Nadia district over disagreements with colleagues over ticket distribution in the Krishnanagar constituency (which comes under the district).

“Over the months, the leadership had received complaints over her autocratic style of functioning. A combination of such complaints from local leaders and her outspokenness in sensitive matters were to be her undoing,” a party person recently told Indian Express.

In the wake of the recent controversy over Kali, while the TMC has distanced itself from her remarks, party insiders believe the MP could have been a tad discreet.

“Moitra should realise that as a public representative, the world is not her oyster. Exercising a degree of restraint is also necessary in these fraught times, notwithstanding our personal beliefs,” a TMC MP told IE.