‘What you need to prove is I took cash for this. Where is the cash?…’: Mahua Moitra

It’s very clear that I am being specifically targeted because I am one of the very few who stand up against the bullies running this government and have been playing an integral role in exposing (Gautam) Adani and the nexus that he runs with Mr Modi and this government. It is very clear that they are using any means possible to run a media trial to put me down.

It’s meant for everyone who criticises the government. In a way, they have been a little late in getting to me. Because, if you see, the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), (Congress’s) Rahul Gandhi, (TMC’s) Abhishek Banerjee, who raised their voices against this government, they also got after them. (Since) They had nothing on me, they had to go in this manner and use a fake, malicious complaint arising out of an acrimonious relationship break-up.

The TMC’s silence on the issue is being interpreted as you being isolated within the party. Has it asked you for an explanation?

It’s very clear that I am a loyal lieutenant of (TMC chief) Mamata Banerjee. This is a standard ploy of the BJP to try and create an impression that there is some problem between me and Mamata Banerjee. They have written my obituary in the Trinamool many times before. They float rumours that I am going to the Congress. When Mamata Banerjee told me something at a disciplinary meeting, they said she was angry with me.

I am a loyal soldier of the Trinamool and I will remain one till I die. Short of being my birth mother, Mamata Banerjee is my mother.

… We (the TMC) are running our biggest battle now over MNREGA dues to West Bengal, which is being illegally deprived of Rs 15,000 crore. We, the party and Mamata Banerjee, have been successful in showing how our state is being deprived. Our party is one of the complainants in the coal scam which has been exposed, our party is going to take it forward. Under such circumstances, the BJP has chosen to run this slander campaign against me. Mamata Banerjee has full faith in me to prove these allegations as frivolous and stand up against them. She does not have to feed the media circus every day by paying attention to the rubbish. If the party had to take action against (me), they would have.

… Should Mamata Banerjee spare time to feed the media circus about the ownership of my pet dog? Or about how many pairs of shoes I have? I am perfectly capable of handling that.

Express Interview | Moitra on her relationship with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee

It has been pointed out that some questions you asked in Parliament in relation to Adani’s business benefit the Hiranandani Group (the Hiranandani group has submitted an affidavit saying it asked questions on Moitra’s behalf).

The issue here is cash for questions. It’s a serious issue. One side of the issue is that there was a quid pro quo, and the other side is the cash. I have asked a total of 61 questions in the Lok Sabha, whereas the national average for questions by 17th Lok Sabha’s MPs is 191. I am not even at one-third. The average of West Bengal MPs is 129.

Parliamentary questions have never been my way of getting information, because most information is RTI-able. Apart from policy questions which this government does not answer in RTIs, you cannot get anything. The rules of Parliament say that no answer can concern issues of national security, nor can you get anything defamatory. So there is nothing secretive about what you can get out of a parliamentary question.

Darshan Hiranandani is a close family friend, I never denied it. He has been a friend from long before I became an MP. He is not in the main business with Adani. Adani, in collaboration with this government, is the biggest fraud on the people of India. It is in my interest to get information from any source possible to expose Adani. Darshan Hiranandani does not need to pay me to ask questions; I should be paying Darshan to get information on Adani.

The question here is not cash for question, it is cash to not question. I have asked nine questions on Adani and they are extremely valid questions. They are in national interest. They are all on international news and I am an ex-banker. It was clear to me that Foreign Portfolio Investments owned Adani’s stocks, because for an illiquid stock, where was the ownership coming from? This company is buying up ports, airports and there is no free float in this company. Who owns the stocks of this company? I do not need Darshan Hiranandani to say that.

Express Interview | Mahua Moitra on Darshan Hiranandani

There is no question of Darshan putting up money to ask such questions.

But the allegation is that you passed on your Parliament login ID to a businessman, who logged in from outside India.

Let’s not sensationalise it. The method of asking questions is not just by logging in. I can write a question by hand, sign and give it. If I were asking questions for a businessman, the easiest thing would have been to write it down. No one would know where they came from. I am in a rural constituency, and Darshan is my friend. When I enter Parliament, there are no NIC rules for Parliament. No MP does their own questions – LAMPs (Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament) do it, or interns do it. The question and answer password does not give you access to the vaults of the RBI or the Budget document, it is just to upload or update your question. An OTP comes to your mobile, and in 99% of the cases, MPs do not give their phone numbers for the OTP. But in my case, my phone number is given.

When I became an MP and since I represent a remote constituency (Krishnanagar), I asked Darshan to get someone in his office to type down the question and upload it. He is my friend and I do not think there is anything wrong with it. How do you know which business group goes and gives questions to your intern or LAMP to file?… I have given him the password and login for someone in his office to type it down and upload. Since the OTP comes to me, there is no question of Darshan or anyone putting it without my knowledge.

Express Interview | Mahua Moitra on ‘cash for query’ allegations

The charge also is that you batted for an industrialist against his rival, took money and favours from Hiranandani, and even threatened him into going against Adani.

Tell me, where is the money? The main thing to prove is the quid pro quo. Darshan is an Indian citizen, he runs some of the biggest IT firms in the country and its biggest client is the GOI (Government of India). So he cannot be ‘anti-national’. One of his secretaries typed the questions I framed… Darshan in his affidavit (to the Ethics Committee) says that he is the biggest fan of Prime Minister Modi. Where did he attack Adani?

The analysis given in the affidavit (by Jai Anant Dehadrai) of my questions is laughable. To my question as to the statistics regarding the quality of service provided by telecom companies, Dehadrai has written as analysis that, just a day earlier, Hiranandani had hired a former Reliance Jio executive. What rubbish is this?

… Adani has used the government, ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI to shut up competitors. I am fully within my rights to raise questions against Adani… What you need to prove is that I took cash for this. Where is the cash?… What is the secret answer I am getting on Adani that Hiranandani could not get on his own?

The Ethics Committee has taken up the matter.

The Ethics Committee handbook says that any member or person making the complaint should submit supporting evidence to substantiate his allegations. The complaint cannot be frivolous and it should be made in good faith. In this case, the complainant (Dehadrai) is a person who has a history of a failed acrimonious personal relationship with me, who has engaged in a custody battle (with me) over a pet. It is ludicrous that the Parliament Ethics Committee is looking into it. It is not the forum (for) it. He has not given the affidavit to the Lok Sabha Speaker, but to the CBI. He talks about Rs 2 crore cash, but there is no supporting evidence… When he was asked by the Ethics Committee to provide documentation, he provided nothing.

We had an affidavit from Hiranandani, but he did not mention any cash. Darshan has given a suo motu affidavit – first time, an affidavit has been given suo motu — under pressure, with no mention of the cash. Then there is a mention of X number of gifts, wines or shoes, etc. The only way to prove this is to provide invoices or other proofs. Darshan has to be called before the committee to give details about it.

You have used a person with a failed personal relationship to file a fake complaint, and you have put a gun to the head of a friend of mine to back it up. But the two have to match… It’s a bad hit job.

He (Dehadrai) says I have taken diamond and emerald jewellery. Does Darshan mention it? Does he have a photograph of the jewellery? He says that I have got dozens of French and Italian wines? Does he have the names of these wines? Is there any proof? He says I have 35 pairs of Ferragamo shoes. I have owned Ferragamo shoes from my banker days, before these people could spell Ferragamo. Please do not reduce my agency as a woman.

In Darshan’s affidavit, he is singing paeans to Narendra Modi, and I have found similar language in government press releases, the exact wording. Why should Darshan, the head of a business group, be afraid of an Opposition MP (as he writes in the affidavit)?… His affidavit also talks about renovation of (my) house. As the house allotted to me by the government did not have natural light, I had asked Darshan to make one of his architects give me a plan, which he did, and here it is (showing the drawing). I gave this to the CPWD and, from top to bottom, the work was done at my MP bungalow by the CPWD.

To the best of my knowledge, Darshan Hiranandani has given me one Hermes scarf on my birthday. Whenever he came from Dubai, I asked him for the Bobbi Brown makeup set. He got me a Mac eyeshadow and bitten peach lipstick. Whenever I am in Mumbai or Dubai, his car picks me up from the airport and drops me.

I am telling you the exact truth, and if Darshan can prove anything more than that… There is no cash or anything else I have ever taken from him. I thrive upon my integrity…

Personal photographs which were available only to the complainant (Dehadrai) were released after cropping, leaked to the BJP IT cell to begin a slander campaign… When I am asking them to prove cash charges, they are talking about national security. In that case, why did you not make rules for NIC?…

All my assets are declared. I am not a person who has a rags-to-riches story. I am a person who owned 35 pairs of Ferragamo shoes before I came to India, gave it all away and am equally happy wearing Bata Hawai chappals in my constituency. You are reducing my agency as a woman when you are questioning it.

This issue has put your personal conduct under a microscope.

Yes, I have to plead guilty to that. I have terrible taste when it comes to choosing people in my personal circle. I hope to break this soon… But they picked the wrong person. I will survive and thrive. For a strong woman, politics is actually good, because once you survive this, you give courage to hundred other women to fight. Yes, it’s difficult. But I can fight it.