Cuss word in Parliament: 'Apple is an apple,' says Mahua Moitra; calls out BJP's 'patriarchy'

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday (February 8) was unapologetic and stood her ground about the ‘cuss word’ she had used in the Lok Sabha the previous day, and asked the BJP if she had to be a ‘man’ to hit back at her detractors.

“What makes me laugh is that the BJP is saying ye mahila ho kar kaise ye word use ki (being a woman how can she use such a word?). Do I need to be a man to be able to give it back, as good as it gets? Their patriarchy has come out,” she said.

Moitra said her word was not on record, and she would call ‘a spade a spade’. She repeated that she would call an apple an apple and not an orange.

Nobody is behind Mahua. Mahua is behind the truth
(And truth can’t be silenced by thug hecklers)
My speech in Lok Sabha todayhttps://t.co/pFdvrUBfoF

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 7, 2023

BJP MP Hema Malini on Wednesday (February 8) too waded into the controversy saying that every member of the Parliament was a respectable person. “They should control their tongue. They should not get over-excited and emotional. By nature, she (Mahua Moitra) must be like that. I don’t know.”

#WATCH | They should control their tongue and not get over-excited and emotional. Each and every member of Parliament is a respectable person: BJP MP Hema Malini on TMC MP Mahua Moitra using offensive language in Lok Sabha yesterday pic.twitter.com/J4OlQtLQDB

— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2023

Mahua Moitra on Tuesday (February 7) had addressed the Lok Sabha during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address and BJP MPs kept interrupting her speech on the Adani affair several times. After her speech, when the TDP MP K Ram Mohan Naidu was speaking, Mahua Moitra shouted out an abuse at BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri (who had heckled her during her speech).

Also read: Ruckus in LS over Mahua Moitra’s “abusive language”; BJP demands apology

Mahua said she had asked the Lok Sabha chairperson five times for protection from the heckling, but to no avail.

Moitra recalls BJP’s use of unparliamentary language

The Trinamool MP said she was quite surprised that the BJP party was teaching others about  parliamentary etiquette. She recalled that the BJP MP from Delhi was the gentleman, who had called farmers ‘pimps’ on record, and that she had tweeted the video. She also cited the example of minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who had used an absolutely offensive word for Dr Santanu Sen. She said this was not the first time that an expletive had been used in Parliament.

She said she would defend herself if the matter was taken before a privileges committee.