Interview/ Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress candidate, Krishnanagar
MAHUA MOITRA STARTS her daily campaign with a roadshow early in the morning. She avoids the intense heat in the afternoon and resumes her campaign in the evening, addressing several meetings till late in the night. THE WEEK caught up with her at Krishnanagar town where she has set up a team of tech-savvy youth to help in the campaign. She gave them brief instructions before discussing with us a range of issues, including her expulsion from Parliament, her challenger from the BJP and Prime Minister Modi. Excerpts:
Q/ Krishnanagar is a very important seat for the BJP.
A/ Every seat is important. But tough luck to them. Last time they lost by 65,000 votes. This time, they will lose by over one lakh votes. I work hard. I have developed my constituency and I am standing up to fascist forces again.
Q/ But this time the BJP has fielded an interesting candidate.
A/ How is she an interesting candidate?
Q/ She belongs to the erstwhile royal family.
A/ They are saying she is a rajmata. I have only one question, kon rajar ma (which king’s mother is she)?
Q/ While campaigning, you attack Modi much more than speaking about local issues.
A/ The BJP people themselves do that. They have got only one pony. It’s a multi-trick pony, but it’s only one pony. And they have made this a three-month election so that this one pony can trot everywhere. As a party, I would like to speak against the BJP. But the problem is that it is impossible to talk about the BJP without talking about Modi. He is the finance minister, he is the external affairs minister, he is the defence minister, he is everything. He is the BJP. They are saying Modi is the candidate in all 42 seats in West Bengal. If he is their only candidate, then who is the rajmata anyway?
So, if I am fighting him, then, of course, I am going to speak about him. The BJP has only two rules and I have broken them both. One is you cannot attack Modi and the second is you cannot attack his best friend Gautam Adani. I have done both.
Q/ Don’t you think the same applies to Mamata Banerjee?
A/ She is definitely the face of our party and we are fighting as her soldiers.
Q/ So, is there a difference between the BJP and the Trinamool?
A/ Of course. Even when they are fighting panchayat elections, they put up Modi’s face. They have nobody. They have no leadership in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee set up a party that has been in government for over 10 years. She has got a whole gang of leaders today. In Parliament, there are six or seven of us who can take on the BJP. Mamata Banerjee has already created a second rung of leadership. Who do they have?
Q/ Your critics say you never raised any issues about Krishnanagar in Parliament.
A/ I was not a member of a panchayat. I was a member of the Indian Parliament and one of the 78 women representing 50 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population. So, I think I don’t need to talk about whether I have drains in my area. I have a government here that looks after them. I raise issues that are pan-Indian and national.
Q/ Will you get any leverage out of your expulsion from Parliament?
A/ In urban areas in Bengal, voting percentages vary between 50 per cent and 60 per cent. In rural areas, it is between 80 per cent and 90 per cent. People live for that one day in five years that they will go and vote. They do not like it if somebody throws their representative out. Rural India feels very strongly about its politics.
Q/ The BJP is making women’s safety an issue, especially in the context of Sandeshkhali.
A/ Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh sat in Parliament and the prime minister did not say anything. They are going to lecture us about women’s issues? Have you seen their candidates’ list? We have 37 per cent women candidates and that shameless party has 14 per cent women candidates.