New Delhi: Days after questioning the Supreme Court’s order to allow green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has waded into fresh controversy by backing a Canadian vlogger’s social media post that mocked Diwali and called Indians “brain dead.”
Moitra attempted to make amends by deleting her “I Agree” post, but the damage has been done by then. Despite issuing a clarification, the MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district, is facing widespread criticism.
Moitra said she had mistakenly endorsed the offensive video while travelling, clarifying that she had intended to agree with a different post.
On Thursday, Nate, the vlogger with the X handle CelticAshes, supposedly associated with an extremist Christian group, posted a video showing garbage scattered on the streets during Diwali celebrations, with police officers urging people to stop littering. It was for this video that Moitra posted ‘I Agree’.
The BJP accused her of displaying “anti-India and anti-Hindu sentiment.” The party’s West Bengal unit criticised her, stating that she “believes Bangladesh is better than India and has compromised national security in exchange for luxury handbags.”
The party alleged that Trinamool MPs view Kashmir as “Azad Kashmir” and mischaracterise terrorists as “tourists.”
The party further accused the Trinamool-led government in Bengal of committing atrocities against women and children who dare to burst firecrackers during Diwali, and claimed that Kali temples have been attacked simply for hosting Kali Puja celebrations.
In its statement, the BJP also mentioned Moitra’s past remarks, in which she described Goddess Kali as a deity who accepts meat and alcohol.
Moitra claimed that she had accidentally reposted the offensive content while travelling and had not checked her feed carefully. The MP added that she had intended to endorse a different video.
“Just clarifying my twitter feed was showing a lot of videos and I meant to say ‘I agree’ to a video just below the racist one by some Nate. My mistake. Travelling and didn’t check till now… But (it) was a genuine mistake. Sorry trolls,” she posted on X on Friday.
She failed to satisfy social media users though, with many suggesting she could at least come up with more creative excuses.
“‘My account has hacked’ or ‘my intern had control of my account’ would’ve been better excuses,” a user posted on X.
“Should’ve gone with ‘someone hacked my account’ or ‘intern had control and posted that tweet’. Would’ve sold much better as a justification, just saying,” another one wrote.
“It’s okay, looks like your phone did an override and wrote “I agree” on its own Your past record absolutely doesn’t suggest that you can do such thing,” a third user posted on X.