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Journalism of Courage
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra’s speech in Parliament on Tuesday during which she raised a series of questions to the BJP-ruled Centre and asked “Who’s the Pappu now?” has generated a huge buzz online, with Opposition members sharing the speech and applauding her.
In a debate in the Lok Sabha over the supplementary demand of grants, Moitra raised questions about industrial output, the manufacturing sector and the number of people leaving India. Moitra said the ruling party had coined the term “Pappu”, usually used to attack Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, to “denigrate, signify extreme incompetence”.
Amid loud cheers from the Opposition benches, Moitra recited a couplet in her speech: “Sawaal yeh nahin ki bastiyan kisne jalaayi. Sawaal yeh hai ki paagal key haath mein maachis kisne di (The question is not who lit the fire, the question is who handed the matchbox to a crazy person)?”
She shared a link to her speech on Twitter. Hours later, on Tuesday evening, she shared an altered cover of the comic book series Tintin, with a picture of herself speaking in the House. Its title read, “The adventures of Tintin: The discovery of the real pappu.”
Sharing his colleague’s speech, TMC MP Derek O’Brien said, “Two months ago @AITCofficial National General Secretary @abhishekaitc (TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee) coined the new phrase #IndiasBiggestPappuAmitShah. Then came T-shirts & more which went viral across #India. Today @MahuaMoitra introduced #IndiasBiggestPappuAmitShah to Lok Sabha #Parliament.” He also shared a picture of him wearing the “real pappu t-shirt”.
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Actor Prakash Raj, who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Bengaluru Central constituency, shared Moitra’s speech on Twitter. “Dear Supreme PAPPU … Any comments,” he said.
Taking to Twitter, DMK MLA TRB Rajaa said “Mahua mauls the treasury.”
Maharashtra Congress general secretary Jitendra Dehade said, “We need more parliamentarians like @MahuaMoitra. Hats off.”
In her speech, Moitra also spoke of an additional Rs 4.36 lakh crore that will raise the fiscal deficit above the provision in the Budget, and went against “the government’s own stated goal of containing the fiscal deficit”.
She also talked about the number of those who have given up citizenship in the past nine years of the Modi government is almost 12.5 lakh. “Is this the sign of a healthy economic and tax environment? Who’s the Pappu now?” Moitra said.
