Mahua Moitra | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 23 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Tapas Paul |
| Constituency | Krishnanagar |
| Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 28 May 2016 – 23 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Samaredranath Ghosh |
| Succeeded by | Bimalendu Sinha Roy |
| Constituency | Karimpur |
| In–charge of the All India Trinamool Congress, Goa | |
| In office 13 November 2021 (2021-11-13) – 4 May 2022 (2022-5-4) | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Kirti Azad |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1974-10-12)12 October 1974 (age 50)[1][2] Labac,Cachar,Assam, India |
| Political party | Trinamool Congress (since 2010) |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Spouse | Lars Wauvert Brorson (divorced) |
| Alma mater | Mount Holyoke College |
| Profession | |
Mahua Moitra (Bengali pronunciation:[mohuamoi̯tro]; born 12 October 1974) is an Indian politician and former investment banker.[3] She won the2019 Indian general election as anTrinamool Congress (TMC) party candidate fromKrishnanagar[4] and served as aMember of Parliament, Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2023 until being expelled. She was re-elected to parliament in the2024 Indian general election.[5] She was noticed nationally and internationally for her ‘Early signs of fasicism’ speech address to Indian Parliament.
Moitra served as a member of theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly representingKarimpur from 2016 to 2019,[6] and served as the general secretary and national spokesperson of the AITC. On 13 November 2023, Moitra was appointedAITC District President ofKrishnanagar (Nadia North). She was an investment banker atJPMorgan Chase before entering politics.[7]Moitra was disqualified and expelled from theLok Sabha on 8 December 2023 following recommendation of Lok Sabha Ethics Committee in cash-for-query case for sharing her login and password of NIC portal.[8][9]
Moitra was born to Dwipendra Lal Moitra on 12 October 1974 in Labac in theCachar district ofAssam. She hails from aBengali Hindu Brahmin family and has a sister.[1][10][11]
Moitra went to Gokhale Memorial Girls' School inKolkata. She graduated in economics and mathematics in 1998 fromMount Holyoke CollegeSouth Hadley inMassachusetts, United States.[12]
Moitra worked as an investment banker forJPMorgan Chase in New York City and London.[13]
She quit her position as vice-president atJPMorgan Chase in London in 2009 to enter Indian politics.[13] Subsequently, she joined theIndian Youth Congress, the youth wing of theIndian National Congress party where she was one of the trusted hands ofRahul Gandhi in the project "Aam Admi Ka Sipahi".[14] In 2010, she moved to theAll India Trinamool Congress party.[13] She was elected from theKarimpur constituency inNadia district, West Bengal in the Legislative Assembly elections held in 2016.[15][16] She has been elected as a member of parliament to the17th Lok Sabha fromKrishnanagar,West Bengal.[17][18]
On 13 November 2021, she was appointed TMC party's Goa in-charge to prepare the party for contesting the2022 Goa Legislative Assembly election.[19]
She won theLok Sabha elections of 2024 by a margin of 44,000 plus votes and returned to parliament with a decisive victory.[20]
On 26 June 2019, Moitra pointed out "seven early signs offascism",[21] which she said were present in India underNarendra Modi's government.[22] She said that constitution on which everyMP had sworn to protect was under threat.[23]
Criticising the judiciary and the current government in the parliament on 8 February 2021, Moitra stated "The sacred cow that was the judiciary is no longer sacred, It stopped being sacred the day a sitting chief justice (Ranjan Gogoi) of this country was accused of sexual harassment, presided over his own trial, cleared himself and then proceeded to accept the nomination to the upper house within three months of retirement, replete withZ+ security cover". The speech caused an uproar in the house with members of the ruling party calling it 'objectionable' and violating parliamentary rules because it mentioned a person in "high authority". Opposition members supported the speech as it was based on facts which are matters ofproceedings of the sexual harassment allegation was in public record.[24][25][26] BJP leadersNishikant Dubey andP. P. Chaudhary moved a privilege notice against her and speakerOm Birla had her statements expunged.[27]
On 7 April 2022, Moitra argued in the parliament that the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 is even more intrusive than colonial surveillance laws in India.[28]
Moitra has been one of the most vocal critics ofGautam Adani, his connection toNarendra Modi and the government.[29] Following reports of stock manipulation by theAdani Group, she,Rahul Gandhi andJairam Ramesh pushed against the government, demanding to launch a probe against the Adani Group. She had also raised alarm before the reports had come up on international news about the suspicious profile of the Adani Group.[30]
On 14 October 2023, BJP MP from JharkhandNishikant Dubey andSupreme Court advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai sent a complaint toCBI with an FIR against Moitra and submitted a copy to the speakerOm Birla and their Ethics Committee inLok Sabha. They accused Moitra of having received money fromDarshan Hiranandani to ask parliamentary questions targeting Adani.[31] On 19 October 2023, Hiranandani turnedapprover, and submitted an affidavit.[32][33]
Moitra denied these allegations and stated that she welcomes any kind of enquiry fromCBI andparliamentary ethics committee.[34] Moitra admitted that she had shared her NIC portal login details with Hiranandani who was a friend and other people related to her own office, a common occurrence among MPs according to her. However, she denied accepting cash for any query she raised in the Parliament.[35][36] She claimed that Hiranandani made these allegations either under duress or for reward and anyone who spoke against the Adani-Modi nexus was being targeted.[29]
On 9 November 2023, the parliamentary ethics panel recommended her dismissal from Lok Sabha on grounds that she had received gifts and favours from Hiranandani.[37][38][39] On 8 December 2023, theLok Sabha voted to expel Moitra from the membership of the house as per the recommended in report by the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics.[8][40] Moitra has approached the Supreme Court challenging her expulsion.[29][41]
The CBI conducted a raid at Moitra's residence in Kolkata on 23 March 2024 during the2024 Indian general election and her campaign inKrishnanagar.[42][43]
On 10 January 2017, Moitra filed a police complaint against thenBharatiya Janata Party MP andUnion MinisterBabul Supriyo for allegedly "insulting her modesty" during a national television debate.[44] The complaint was later dismissed by theCalcutta High Court.[45] A few days later, Babul Supriyo sent legal notices to Moitra and TMC MPsSaugata Roy andTapas Paul for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of being involved in theRose Valley ponzi firm scam.[46][47]
In 2020, she filed a defamation suit againstZee Media and the company also filed a counter lawsuit fordefamation against her for apparently making derogatory statements against the channel while addressing reporters. She was granted bail and put on trial by a Delhi Court.[48] She later won the case and the charges against her were dismissed while the case she had filed has remained pending.[49]
On 5 July 2022 at the India Today Conclave East, while reacting to a film poster showing goddessKali smoking a cigarette, Moitra said, "Kaali to me is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. You have the freedom to imagine your goddess. There are some places where whiskey is offered to gods and in some other places it would be blasphemy."[50] Police complaints were filed against her by theBengal BJP inKolkata and five districts ofWest Bengal, as well as inBhopal,Madhya Pradesh.[51][52] Her partyAll India Trinamool Congress distanced itself and issuing a statement — "Her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are not endorsed by the party."[53][54]
Moitra was married toDanish financier Lars Brorson, with whom she later divorced.[55] She was in a relationship with advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for about three years.[56][57]
I am a Hindu and neither I nor anyone from my family, ever felt it necessary to assert or to tattoo the fact on our foreheads that we are Hindus or Brahmins.
| Lok Sabha | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forKrishnanagar 2019 | Incumbent |
| State Legislative Assembly | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly fromKarimpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) 2016 – 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Office established | In charge All India Trinamool Congress, Goa 13 November 2021 – 4 May 2022 | Succeeded by |
| Presiding Officers & Parliamentary Functionaries |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Current Members | ||
| by States | ||
| by Union Territories | ||
