New Delhi/Kolkata: In a sharp escalation of internal feud, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee has launched a scathing personal attack on party colleague Mahua Moitra, calling her a “homebreaker” and accusing her of making baseless allegations of misogyny for political and personal gain. The outburst follows Mahua Moitra’s criticism of TMC leaders’ comments surrounding the alleged gang-rape of a law student in Kolkata.
Speaking to the media, Banerjee claimed Moitra’s accusations were part of a self-serving narrative. “She says the party is misogynistic. She is anti-woman herself. She is a woman who has broken homes. She married a man and broke his home,” Banerjee alleged, in a statement widely seen as a personal dig at Moitra recent marriage to 65-year-old former BJD MP, Pinaki Mishra.
#TMC MP #KalyanBanerjee launches a blistering attack on party MP Mahua Moitra.
Says, “She is terming me anti-women but she has broken a family & married a 65 year old.”
Kalyan Banerjee makes sensational claims that he was stopped from campaigning in recently concluded… pic.twitter.com/4Rrna6JbLe
— Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) June 29, 2025
“An MP who was expelled from parliament for breach of ethics is preaching me! She is the most anti-woman. She only knows how to secure her future and how to make money,” Banerjee said, as quoted by India Today.
Banerjee’s attack comes in response to Mahua Moitra slamming the Trinamool Congress for not condemning its own leaders over loose talk. Moitra had taken an indirect dig at his ‘avoid bad company’ shocker on the law student’s gang rape.
In a blatant case of survivor-shaming, Banerjee had said that women should be aware of who they are going out with. “Those who are roaming around with such people should understand whom they are accompanying,” he had told reporters in Kolkata after the gangrape came to light on Friday.
In response, Mahua Moitra had publicly criticised her party colleagues. “Misogyny cuts across party lines. Am glad my party distanced itself from such deeply insensitive rape comments,” she posted on social media, distancing herself from her senior colleague.
The TMC has officially distanced itself from the comments made by both Banerjee and Mitra, terming them “personal remarks” and reaffirming its support for a thorough investigation into the sexual assault case.
The verbal feud highlights growing fissures within the TMC over gender sensitivity and internal party dynamics, even as public outrage mounts over the handling of the Kolkata gangrape case, in which the survivour—a law student—was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former student linked to the TMC and his aides on the college campus.
On April 4, 2025, both MPs were embroiled in a bitter spat at the Election Commission of India office in New Delhi. The altercation had spiraled out of control, with Moitra allegedly asking security personnel to “arrest him.”
The incident finally came to light when a WhatsApp chat between Kalyan Banerjee and another TMC MP, Kirti Azad, got leaked. Banerjee had mocked Moitra by dubbing her as a ‘versatile international lady.’
