Row over Mahua Moitra’s ‘Judge Loya’ remark in fiery LS speech, Rijiju’s ‘threat’

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s reference to the death of a judicial officer “long before his time” triggered an uproar in the Lok Sabha on Friday (December 13), with Union minister Kiren Rijiju accusing her of raising a matter settled by the Supreme Court and warning of “appropriate parliamentary action”.

Participating in a debate on 75 years of the Indian Constitution, Moitra made passing but contentious remarks on the death of Judge BH Loya.

Moitra made the remark while participating in a debate on 75 years of the Indian Constitution, as she attacked the ruling BJP for allegedly targeting institutions and opposition leaders to silence critical voices.

Moitra writes to Inter-Parliamentary Union

Moitra later accused Rijiju of threatening her in the Lok Sabha, and said she has written to Inter-Parliamentary Union about it. “So Kiren Rijiju openly threatens me in Lok Sabha today in complete violation of parliamentary rules & procedure,” Moitra said in a post on X.

She said Speaker Om Birla said he would get “Rijiju’s words deleted but no action yet”.

She added, “Written to Inter-Parliamentary Union against this continued gender harassment & intimidation yet again.”

House adjourned twice

On Friday, the House was adjourned briefly twice due to the uproar over the matter and the debate resumed after Speaker Om Birla said he has asked her to authenticate her claims. He also assured Opposition members that he would look into their reservations against Rijiju’s “threatening” language against a woman MP.

BJP member Nishikant Dubey first raised the issue after Moitra finished her speech. He accused Moitra of making an insinuation about the judicial officer’s death.

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Rijiju said the case of the judicial officer’s death is settled and the TMC MP’s remarks were very serious. There is no question of any link or interference, he added.

“We will take appropriate parliamentary action. You cannot escape. You are setting a very wrong precedent,” the parliamentary affairs minister said. Otherwise, any member will make similar allegations, he added.

Saugata Roy, Venugopal to Moitra’s defence

When the House reconvened after two adjournments, senior Opposition members, Saugata Roy of the TMC and KC Venugopal of the Congress, protested against Rijiju’s choice of words, emphasising that it is the Speaker who is the custodian of the Lok Sabha.

Both the MPs said the ruling party could have resorted to appropriate rules to seek action if they had an issue with Moitra’s speech.

Addressing Birla, Venugopal said, “You are the custodian. You have the powers to delete, expunge... The parliamentary affairs minister took the entire custody of the House and he virtually threatened the lady member.”

Venugopal said the minister’s responsibility is to maintain peace in the House but he instead “threatened” and intimidated a woman member. He demanded that Rijiju apologise or his remarks be expunged.

Speaker calls for constructive debate

Roy accused Rijiju of making a “brazen effort” to threaten Moitra.

The Speaker lamented members engaging in personal allegations and counter-allegations, and asked them to have a constructive debate over issues related to the Constitution.

Birla said he had asked Moitra to authenticate her remarks. He said he would look into what the minister had said and would delete it, if needed.

Democracy “systematically eroded” over 10 years

During her trademark fiery speech, Moitra accused the BJP-led Centre of “bleeding the Constitution from a thousand cuts” and said it was crystal clear that the political executive had “systematically eroded democracy” over the past 10 years.

Participating in the debate, Moitra asserted that the need of the hour was to ensure that the idea of India survives in its purest form.

Mahua attacks Chandrachud

For a significant part of her speech, the Trinamool MP trained her guns on former chief justice of India DY Chandrachud, without naming him, and said what troubles the Opposition is that some members of the higher judiciary appear to be doing their best to compromise the independence and integrity of the country’s constitutional courts.

“The outgoing CJI waxed eloquent on how the right to bail has been granted during his tenure.... From A for Arnab to Z for Zubair, his alphabets (sic) seem to be abbreviated because it did not include G for Gulfisha Fatima, did not include H for Haney Babu, did not include K for Khalid Saifi, did not include S for Sharjeel Imam, U for Umar Khalid and countless others,” she said.

Moitra said the former CJI made it a point to state that the Supreme Court is not meant to act like a political opposition. “We in the opposition do not need the Supreme Court to do our job. We are not asking it to (do so) but what troubles us is that some members of the higher judiciary appear to be doing their best to compromise the independence and integrity of our constitutional courts,” she said.

“Constitution your only God, atithi”

Moitra also apparently criticised Chandrachud for hosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence during the Ganapati festival.

“I do not think the framers of our Constitution ever imagined a scenario where judges would rely on private conversations with God to write judgments rather than on objective logic, on reasoning, on law and on the Constitution,” the TMC MP said.

In a message to the CJIs of the past and present, she said, “Yours is not to worry about your personal legacy, yours is not to take directions from God, yours is not to have a private family function turned into a televised circus with a political executive. The Constitution is your only God, the Constitution should be the only ‘atithi’ (guest) that should be at your home as your ‘Deva’ (God). Attention-seeking divas do not leave legacies, upholders of our basic sovereign rights will only be remembered.”

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“We saw Emergency for what it was”

Moitra claimed that a large number of people feel that the Constitution is in “danger” and asserted that as responsible public representatives, it is imperative that it is put to test and checked if this is fearmongering.

Citing a professor’s three broad tests to check if the political executive is constitutionally accountable, she said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot usurp power in a way that takes away the rights of others.

“This ruling party, when confronted with this charge, uses only one defence — what about Mrs (Indira) Gandhi’s Emergency? Yes, that was a full-frontal attack on democracy, no questions about that, but we saw it for what it was. This government’s modus operandi has been indirect and creeping, an incremental and systemic assault for the past 10 years,” she said.

Killing Constitution “by a thousand cuts”

The TMC MP alleged that the Modi government has consistently sought to erase the distinction between the ruling party and the State by undermining and capturing all the mechanisms that seek executive accountability.

“It is killing our Constitution by a thousand cuts,” Moitra said, flagging electoral malpractices, such as voter disenfranchisement and biased campaign finance, giving the ruling party an unfair advantage.

Voter disenfranchisement has reached epic proportions in India, she claimed. Another aspect is the largely-targeted exclusion of a “hated minority” by a prejudiced majoritarian State, creating a whole section of second-class citizens whose rights are less equal than others, Moitra said.

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CAA and bulldozer justice

This government brought a “discriminatory” Citizenship (Amendment) Act that is openly violative of the right to equality before law, she added.

Hitting out at the BJP-ruled states, Moitra said these governments are competing with each other in “bulldozer justice”, demolishing homes, usually of minorities, without due process of law.

Moitra also attacked the BJP government over the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir and said the right to free speech of the people of the region has been suppressed.

“CBI looking for scarf and lipstick”

She also dubbed probe agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as “extortionist departments” of the government.

“In a cooked-up case against me, the CBI is wasting precious time looking for a scarf and lipstick that a friend gave me,” she said.

On the independence of the Election Commission, Moitra said, “Since this government has come in, two ECs have inexplicably quit before their terms ended.” Other institutional bodies have also been severely compromised, Moitra added.

“It is crystal clear that this political executive, for the last 10 years, has systematically eroded democracy. It fails spectacularly on all three tests of constitutional accountability. Our Constitution is bleeding from a thousand cuts,” she said.

Moitra also read out poems by Hilal Fareed and Faiz Ahmed Faiz to take a swipe at the Modi government.

(With agency inputs)