Mahua Moitra: A victim of mob lynching for act of digital impropriety

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, November 10: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra may be expelled from the Lok Sabha as early as early next week. This is seemingly possible for the speed with which the Ethics Committee has wrapped up probe against Moitra in record time. Moitra may not sit in the Lok Sabha so soon because her party will most likely bench her in the next general elections.

Moitra has admitted that she shared the log in credentials with her estranged friend Darshan Hiranandani. She has refused taking any considerations, in kind or cash, for sharing the credentials to access the Lok Sabha portal. The Ethics Committee headed by the BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar has ruled in a split verdict, 6:4, to recommend expulsion of Moitra from the Lok Sabha.

The speed at which the Lok Sabha panel has reached to a conclusion raises question on the genuineness of the probe and also fair play while Moitra has alleged that Hiranandani was not asked before the committee for a cross examination which is a legitimate demand on the part of the TMC MP under the natural judicial due process.

Even before the papers linked to the case were being referred to the Ethics Committee or the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, they were in circulation in a WhatsApp group. Yet, Moitra is guilty of impropriety that she has herself admitted of sharing the log-in credentials in multiple interviews. Besides the haste of the panel to rule an expulsion recommendation, the punishment being advocated fails the test of justice and indeed comes in the category of highly disproportionate.

Before the memory fails the parliamentarians, the Lok Sabha MPs need to recall when they may be asked to vote on the motion to adopt the recommendation of the Ethics Committee against Moitra that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still waiting for the approval of the chair to probe the Narada sting operation case against a few MPs of the TMC. It should also be remembered that the same holier than thou Ethics Committee for years sat over the probe against the TMC MPs for allegedly taking cash for asking questions as claimed in the sting operation. The accused MPs are still members of the lower house of the parliament.

While allegation for cash against query is not yet irrefutably established against Moitra, there were video footages of the accused TMC MPs taking cash against demand for asking questions. Also, there are a few Lok Sabha MPs who are known to be handicapped in using mobile phones and tablets. This author is aware that there are some of the MP who need the help of their aides even to dial their contacts on phones. In this backdrop, the Ethics Committee accusing Moitra of ‘heinous crime’ for sharing the log-in credentials is surely outlandish. At best, Moitra should be reprimanded and suspended from one session of parliament with the presiding officers calling for a session to sensitise the members for IT hygiene.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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