"That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace”, reads the motto of Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA. Mahua Moitra, a Mathematics and Economics graduate from this elite women’s college, has lived up to her alma mater’s motto. The daughter of the Cachar district of Assam’s Barak Valley has become a cornerstone of the opposition’s oversight in the Indian Parliament.
Her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha on June 25, 2019, on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, went viral; since then, there has been no stopping her. Four years into her first term, Mahua is considered one of Parliament’s most powerful opposition voices. She speaks with force and clarity, packing her speeches with irrefutable facts and figures.
Her audacious interventions have set her apart from most opposition leaders, who are often found looking over their shoulders when required to speak against the government. Long before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in London on the state of Indian democracy, Mahua had outlined “seven signs of early fascism in India” in her 2019 speech.
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She has deftly used her party’s time in Parliament to haul the government over the coals. She was also one of the first persons to draw the attention of authorities to the Adani affair in 2021. The Hindenburg report mentions Mahua’s 2021 comments in the media in which she asked, “we want to know whose money it is…” referring to the investment received by the business house from offshore accounts.
In her no-holds-barred attack on Adani, Mahua is alleged to have broken ranks with her party – Trinamool Congress Party (TMC). In comparison to her fire and brimstone attack against Adani, the TMC’s reaction to the Hindenburg report has been muted. Her outspokenness has often landed her in trouble, sometimes with her party too. The TMC had steered clear of her controversial remarks that she worships Goddess Kali as “a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting Goddess”. As a controversy erupted over her comment, the TMC issued a statement saying that her views “are not endorsed by the party in any manner or form…”
But contrary to reports, her party chief, Mamata Banerjee, is not miffed with her. This is evident from her continuous rise through the ranks. She started her stint in TMC as an MLA. Then she was nominated as a candidate for Lok Sabha. Last month, she was made the party’s national spokesperson. The fact that she is regularly fielded in Parliament to lead the party’s charge against the government also disproves reports that all is not well between her and the TMC boss.
But that is not to say that everything is hunky dory. Mamata had publicly pulled up Mahua for factionalism in her parliamentary constituency and for continuing to take an interest in her assembly constituency, which was under the charge of another party leader. “You focus on your Lok Sabha constituency, leave Karimpur for Abu Taher, who is in charge,” the TMC boss had told Mahua.
Mahua is referred to in some sections as a convent-educated Mamata Banerjee for her temperament, style, and language. Her whiplash tongue and hot-headedness have kept her in the news. She was accused of maltreating a policewoman at Silchar airport, which she and her party had vehemently denied. Her use of unparliamentary words in Parliament brought her close to a privilege motion, and her current public spat with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has become the hottest topic of discussion among Delhi’s chatterati.
Blaming Dubey for a smear campaign against her on social media, Mahua launched a fierce counter-attack against him. She sought his disqualification from Lok Sabha for allegedly giving misleading information about his educational qualifications in the affidavits to the returning officers for the Lok Sabha elections. She had, earlier, filed an FIR against singer-turned-MP of BJP, Babul Supriyo, who said in a TV debate, “Mahua, you are on Mahua”, meaning you are high on booze. The firebrand MP’s high-pitch public presence is an ongoing saga.
According to media reports, the only time she goes soft is in her handling of the Congress. Her alleged soft corner for the Congress has led to speculation of her homecoming. She had started her political career with the Congress after quitting as vice-president at J P Morgan and was considered close to Rahul Gandhi. But she quit the party abruptly in 2010 to join the TMC. Will she fight the next election from the Congress? Not likely.
