Mahua Moitra Hits Back at BJP, Asks 'Do I Need to be a man to...'

On Tuesday, there were heated exchanges between TMC and BJP leaders after Mahua Moitra was heard using an objectionable word in Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday (February 8, 2023) hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders slamming her for using an "objectionable" word in her speech during the debate on the 'Motion of Thanks to the President's Address' in Lok Sabha. Moitra cited past instances of BJP leaders using objectionable words in the House and said that she called "an apple, an apple".

On Tuesday, there were heated exchanges between TMC and BJP leaders after Moitra was heard using an objectionable word to which the Chair objected and urged members to avoid cuss words.

Asked about the incident, Moitra said, "this is a gentleman who called farmers pimps...The minister for urban development Hardeep Singh Puri in Rajya Sabha called Dr Santanu Sen an absolutely offensive term. This is not the first time that on record expletives or harsh words have been used in Parliament."

"What makes me laugh is the BJP saying 'ye mahila hokar aise words kaise use kar sakti hain (being a woman, how can she use such words). Do I need to be a man to give it back as good as I get? So I think their patriarchy comes out," she told reporters on Wednesday.

"I have called an apple, an apple and I stand by it," she asserted.

The TMC MP also said that the only regret she has is that the Opposition was not aggressive enough to bring up the "Adani scandal" a little earlier in 2021-22.

"I think we should have been as aggressive as this time, so the people of India would not have lost USD 100 billion," she said.

Do I need to be a man to give back as good as needed?
BJP’s patriarchy on display pic.twitter.com/fJJBW1fham — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 8, 2023

Meanwhile, Ramesh Bidhuri, who had a heated exchange with Moitra during and after her speech in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, slammed the TMC MP and said that people send us to parliament as their representatives and we should function within the decorum of the House.

"People of the world are watching us. Women always maintain dignity... Our culture is such. My father used to say that a person acts according to his or her DNA. If you ask a lion to bleat, he will not, he will only roar. If she thinks that her thinking is right then why did Sudip Bandyopadhyay have to apologise," he asked.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moitra had launched a stinging attack on the Narendra Modi-led government over the Gautam Adani-Hindenburg issue and said the billionaire businessman had taken the country for a ride.

Without naming Adani, she said that a famous person whose name starts with 'A' and ends with 'I' and is not Advani, who stinks of crony capitalism, had duped everyone.

Nobody is behind Mahua. Mahua is behind the truth
(And truth can’t be silenced by thug hecklers)
My speech in Lok Sabha todayhttps://t.co/pFdvrUBfoF — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 7, 2023