'BJP using its little weasels to shut me up': Mahua Moitra

It is difficult to corner Mahua Moitra and confine her into neat little boxes of traditional norms. The only norm that the Lok Sabha MP has followed is to defy the powers that be. In doing so, she has ruffled feathers, and some would say that she has done so even within her own party. Faced with the toughest challenge of her political career so far, Moitra is fighting back fiercely. The same combativeness is well evident in her exclusive interview with THE WEEK where she says that she has nothing to hide and that the Ethics Committee acted like a kangaroo court. Edited excerpts:

Q/ The Ethics Committee has finalised its report which will come to the Lok Sabha, dominated by the BJP. If they expel you, what will be your first step?

A/ In this case, there is no mention of any cash. Although the fake complaint talks about cash, the so-called corroborating affidavit makes no mention of it. So where is the bloody cash? About these gifts, there is a very vague paragraph in the corroborating affidavit. This person who is the alleged bribe giver is an Indian citizen, he is equally culpable of bribing a public servant. So where is the list of gifts? Why was this person not called by the Ethics Committee? The only gifts on the table are the ones that I have spoken about, which is one birthday present and two lipsticks.

The recommendations of the Ethics Committee are laughable. Number one is to expel, number two is to ask an agency to investigate. So if you have not found any evidence, how do you ask for someone’s expulsion? The Ethics Committee cannot expel an MP, only a special committee or a Privileges Committee can. This is a kangaroo court. Let the expulsion happen and I will then let people know what I am going to do next.

Q/ You have the option of filing a writ petition.

A/ Yes, of course. And this expulsion people are talking about, the BJP would want to shut you up, lock you up and throw away the key, right? And they cannot find a way to do it. So they are doing it in this disgusting manner by using these little weasels, such as (Nishikant) Dubey. Since when does an acrimonious ex use an MP as a post box to get to the speaker? The first thing is that an Ethics Committee complaint should not be frivolous, not be vexatious, should be made in good faith. How does a chap who has got a history of acrimony with me get to go to the Ethics Committee via an MP who is a post box? Tomorrow some other MP’s ex-wife can say that while she was married to him, he took money for a Lok Sabha campaign. Where does this end?

So, there are options. But remember, even the expulsion is only for the course of the 17th Lok Sabha, of which there is only the winter session left and then one week for vote on account in February.

Q/ What about the issue of sharing your login credentials?

A/ It is ridiculous. I use typist services. Please put it out that you cannot do that. In the committee report, they have written that he (Darshan Hiranandani) has relatives who are foreign nationals. My own sister is a British citizen. Half my family are British citizens. This is some ludicrous joke. I am covered under Article 105 of the Constitution as a parliamentarian. I can source information from anywhere, ask questions about anything, even if he were a competitor to Adani and if he gave me questions about Adani. How am I supposed to know about Adani’s malpractices if not from his competitors? What is wrong with that? If tomorrow they ask G.V.K. Reddy to sell out overnight using the CBI and the ED, and Adani gets to buy Bombay airport, and I speak to Reddy, what is wrong with that? It is in public interest.

I am completely covered. It [is an issue] only if you take money or if there is a quid pro quo. There is no quid pro quo here.

Q/ You admitted that you shared your login credentials with Hiranandani.

A/ It is not a Parliament login. It is only to the portal where you can only do questions and travel reimbursement. Every single MP has 10 people doing it, even today.

Q/ So you are convinced that you did nothing wrong.

A/ I did nothing wrong. Not at all. If it is illegal, show me the rules.

Q/ The Hiranandani group’s business interests clash with those of the Adani group. So, was it proper to allow Hiranandani to ask questions?

A/ This is the biggest lie. Hiranandani did not ask any questions. I have asked 61 questions over the past five years. There are only nine questions relating to Adani. And each of those nine questions is in public interest. They are in with my research. Six of those questions are about the foreign portfolio investors coming into Adani, which are in public interest. One is about the Dhamra [port]. What is Hiranandani going to do with it? Today, Adani owns everything. Darshan did not write any questions. I had someone in his office type out my questions.

Q/ What about Hiranandani’s affidavit? You said he did this under duress and that it was dictated by the PMO.

A/ The story breaks on October 15. On the 16th, the Hiranandani group puts out a disclaimer, saying they knew nothing about this. Next day, they get to his father, Niranjan Hiranandani, put a gun to his head, and said, we will put the CBI and the ED against you, you need to give us something to fix Mahua Moitra. They first give him a white paper thing, which he signs and they float it around. And then I raised questions about it. So the next day, they made him [Darshan] fly down to Bombay for a day and sit with his father and do this. It is a 12-paragraph affidavit. Darshan is an educated man with a master’s degree, he is an engineer, he runs a huge company. Eleven paragraphs of that thing is singing songs to Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani. If he is Gautam Adani’s competitor, why would he write 11 paragraphs of how great Gautam Adani is? He says Mahua wanted to get famous, hence she was targeting Adani. Do you read the language there? Was he an idiot then that he was helping me? I am an opposition MP. How can I help him?

Where are his businesses? In Uttar Pradesh, in Gujarat, in Maharashtra, all BJP-ruled states. In paragraph 12, if he is a bribe giver, he should be writing down that I gave her two Gucci bags, I gave her $50,000 in cash and I paid for this hotel on this day. There are no details. He is a bribe giver, an Indian citizen. Wouldn’t the first thing that any inquiry committee do is to call him and ask, what did you give?

But Vinod Sonkar (Ethics Committee head) had been asked to avoid calling him at any cost. So on what basis have you hung me? I want to know. Some ex-boyfriend’s ridiculous fairy tale and Dubey being used as a post box? Where is the proof? Where is even one rupee? The only reason you know that he gave me a Hermes scarf is because I said so. He has written support for renovation of bungalow. What is support? You could have got me bamboo for the scaffolding. Travel expense can be a bus ticket. Is this how an affidavit is written? Has all of India gone mad? The BJP has dumbed us down. There is no logic left. There is no reason left. There is no legalese left.

Q/ Some people are saying this could be the end of the road for Mahua Moitra.

A/ They are insane. Why don’t we wait for another five months? Three weeks ago they said she will never show her face. Let them expel me. They have already made me a Jhansi ki Rani. They will make me a Joan of Arc. I will take their pants off. Yesterday also I wrote about Adani. I am not going to stop. I have nothing to hide. The value of two lipsticks is not going to shut my mouth.

Q/ The issue also saw some intense discussion about your private life.

A/ It is typical, misogynistic, patriarchal, woman shaming. It is what they did to Hillary Clinton. It is Hillary versus Trump. It is exactly the same thing. I come from Bengal, where we don’t have this kind of misogyny. And in national politics, it is quite prevalent, especially under a BJP regime. Disobedient women and Muslim men, the BJP cannot stand them. So, shame them, slander them, character assassinate them. But I have thick skin. I don’t care.

Q/ There was a perception that the Trinamool Congress did not back you as much as it would have been expected to.

A/ No, that is not true at all. The BJP put this story out saying that, oh, Mamata Banerjee put her under the bus. There were all these stories that Mamata has done a deal with the BJP to save her nephew. But this is the usual right-wing propaganda. As it was with the Ethics Committee, even I didn’t talk about it for the first 10 days. And then we found that the BJP wanted to run a media trial. My party did not obviously want to be part of that media trial. And they were like let the Ethics Committee do something, and then we will react. So it was only when I realised, around October 26, that this was actually a media trial and character assassination, that I fought back. Mamata Banerjee is not going to comment on something as frivolous as some shoes and the custody of a dog. So when the Ethics Committee came out and they did this entire kangaroo court, is when the party came out and said the right process was not followed. Now, we will go all out.

Q/ Did Mamata speak to you on this issue?

A/ I cannot say that. The party has been with me right from day one. I can say that much.