Action against Moitra violates doctrine of proportionality
In the dramatic takedown of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra by the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, the basic principles of natural justice appear to have been the casualty. How else does one explain the panel’s 6:4 recommendation of her culling following cash-for-query allegations in the House of the People against her when there is zero evidence of the money trail?
The alacrity with which the panel went after her contrasts with the longest rope possible it gave to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ramesh Bidhuri for his hate speech against Bahujan Samaj Party member Danish Ali on the floor of the House recently. By its obvious slant, the panel raised the stature of the feisty, articulate, and abrasive Moitra, whom her party chief Mamata Banerjee is yet to defend in public.
What appeared to be a petty domestic quarrel acquired national security dimensions after Moitra’s estranged partner brought BJP MP Nishikant Dubey into the picture. The charge is that she shared her parliamentary login access with Dubai-based industrialist Darshan Hiranandani to post Lok Sabha questions against the Adani group so as to put Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the mat. The information technology ministry joined the investigation and found that her account was indeed accessed 47 times from Dubai.
Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, Hiranandani agreed in an affidavit that he had her parliamentary login ID and password and that he showered her with costly gifts and funds. Moitra then admitted she used secretarial services from the industrialist’s office but said the system had an OTP signoff that was under her control. She challenged Hiranandani to provide an itemized list with proof of the funding and pricey gifts, which has not been furnished yet. Short of that, the panel had no smoking gun, yet it described her actions as highly objectionable, unethical, heinous, and criminal while suggesting her expulsion from the Lok Sabha.
Moitra giving Hiranandani her parliamentary access was an act of indiscretion and recklessness for which she may have deserved a slap on the wrist. Any action beyond that would go against the doctrine of proportionality. In the absence of any regulations, most Lok Sabha members do share their login credentials with their aides and manage their access remotely.
The Lower House ought to keep that in mind when it debates the panel’s findings next month. Smothering her right to free speech using the National Democratic Alliance’s numerical majority would amount to an assault on democracy.