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Journalism of Courage
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) finds itself in the middle of a political crisis after a spat between its Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee and other MPs escalated on Tuesday. At a press conference, Banerjee hit out at Mahua Moitra, whom he did not name, Kirti Azad, and Saugata Roy.
At the heart of the row is an altercation between Banerjee and Moitra, the party’s Krishnanagar MP, that occurred on the premises of the Election Commission (EC) office in Delhi on April 4 when a delegation of TMC MPs went there to submit a memorandum on the duplication of electoral ID numbers. The Indian Express reached out to Moitra, but she refused to comment.
A TMC MP said the argument began after Moitra realised her name was missing from the list of signatories. “There were two things. First, we were told to meet at the TMC office in Parliament. Our party’s chief whip, Kalyan Banerjee, skipped that meeting and reached the EC office. This annoyed some of us. When we went there, the name of one woman MP was missing, and instead Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s name had been added. Dastidar was not there to submit the memorandum. This annoyed the woman MP who asked Banerjee why her name was not added. This caused the spat. At that moment, Banerjee used derogatory language, following which the woman MP asked the security officials present to arrest him. This angered Banerjee, who lost his cool and started using all kinds of language,” said the source.
Another MP said Moitra wanted to lodge a police complaint in Delhi, but was persuaded to raise the issue with party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “She has written a letter to our party supremo and we are confident that action will be taken,” said the parliamentarian.
At a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, Kalyan Banerjee, the Serampore MP, accused Moitra of lying. “I fought against CPI(M), she never did. She came to the party after 2009 as a friend of a Congress leader and entered district politics. Why will I listen to her? I am naturally annoyed. She says someone like me should be put in jail, saying I used indecent words. She is lying. When the party tells me to, I will quit everything and walk away. But I won’t tolerate such bad behaviour. She may be good-looking and speak fluent English. But that does not mean she can humiliate me. Everything has a limit.”
“Whatever time she demands for giving a speech in Parliament, you have to agree,” said the TMC chief whip. “She was annoyed that I gave a speech during the Waqf Bill debate. If you can speak 18 minutes on an ordinary Bill, can’t I take 35 minutes on the Waqf Bill? You may not be eager, but many people wanted to hear what I had to say about the Waqf Bill. I speak on behalf of people. You speak on behalf of one industrialist and attack another industrialist. I can say many such things, but that won’t be very healthy.”
Banerjee also hit out at Azad, the TMC’s Bardhaman-Durgapur MP, after WhatsApp chats and a video of purported internal discussions were shared online by BJP I-T Cell chief Amit Malviya. Azad’s name figured in the screenshots of the purported chats on a WhatsApp group of TMC MPs. “One of our MPs who came from the BJP and has no popularity sent the video and WhatsApp chats to the BJP … He was running a signature campaign for a sweet shop to open its outlet in Parliament. I protested against that. It was not the agenda of our party. It was his agenda,” said the TMC leader. The Indian Express reached out to Azad, but he too refused to comment on the controversy.
After senior TMC MP Saugata Roy, the parliamentarian from Dum Dum, criticised Banerjee for “tarnishing the party’s image”, the Serampore MP targeted him too, referring to the Narada sting case. “Saugata da has tarnished the party’s image more than once. He was seen taking money in the Narada video. In a video yesterday, he was seen smoking at a party meeting. Hasn’t the party’s image been tarnished because of that? He has not liked me since 2001. He was (late Congress leader) Priya Ranjan Dashmunsi’s man. Leaders like him do not bother if someone says something against Mamata Banerjee, but shout if anyone says anything against Dasmunsi. He (Roy) is a thief of Narada, he took money. All the thieves have gathered at one place,” he said.
Roy told The Indian Express that most TMC MPs were “against Banerjee’s behaviour” and had left the decision in this matter to Mamata Banerjee. “What happened yesterday was Kalyan Banerjee’s misbehaviour. He is in the habit of making deprecating statements about other MPs, particularly women. Earlier, he called Kakoli Dastidar a harlot. Now he has attacked Mahua Moitra. Whatever it is, she is a woman and distinguished. Most of our MPs are against Banerjee’s behaviour,” he said.
“We have left a decision on him to our leader, Mamata Banerjee. But, I think, he should be removed from the post (TMC chief whip in the Lok Sabha). He is bringing disrespect to our party. He is attacking me and other leaders, citing the Naroda case. There’s no substance in it and the CBI has not found anything against us. He is being egged on by the BJP. That’s why his ugly comment and ugly behaviour are not acceptable. In the past, too, he has created such scenes, including one with Jyotiraditya Scindia. So he has made it a habit.”
