[Watch] ‘This Is Beginning Of Your End’: Mahua Moitra Slams Modi Govt, Ethics Panel After Expulsion As MP

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from Lok Sabha on Friday afternoon in ‘cash for query’ matter.

Ethics Committee report, recommending the same, was tabled in the House around 12 noon. The committee held her guilty of sharing her credentials with others and accepting gifts from a businessman to extend favours.

As soon as the House was reconvened at 2 pm, following an adjournment, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel the Trinamool member for “unethical conduct”, which was adopted by a voice vote. This despite the opposition members seeking more time to study the 495-page document.

They staged a walk out as the Lok Sabha speaker started the voting process. “…This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra’s conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP…,” Speaker Om Birla said.

The Speaker also explained why Mahua cannot be allowed to speak in Lok Sabha. “I have a copy of the traditions that were followed earlier. Former Speakers Somnath Chatterjee and Pranab Mukherjee were here earlier…The rules and traditions that they gave are considered our rules. Somnath Chatterjee had said that the Members against whom there are accusations are given ample time to speak before the Committee…This House has the tradition that the traditions followed by the previous Speakers are always further followed by the next Speakers…,” he said.

Mahua contended that the Ethics panel had no power to expel lawmakers. “In essence, I have been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist. The ethics panel is punishing me for engaging in a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in Lok Sabha. The findings are based solely on the written testimony of two private individuals, whose version contradict each other in material term, and whom I was not allowed to cross examine. The businessman was also not summoned to testify and there is no evidence of any cash or gift anywhere,” she said.

.”..If this Modi government thought that by shutting me up they could do away with the Adani issue, let me tell you this that this kangaroo court has only shown to all of India that the haste and the abuse of due process you have used demonstrates how important Adani is to you. And to what length you will go to harass a single woman MP into shutting her into submission…,” she added while dubbing her expulsion as the beginning of the BJP’s end.

“I am 49 years old and I will fight you ( BJP) for the next 30 years inside Parliament and outside; in gutter and on the streets. We will see the end of you,” she added.

Congress MP Manish Tewari also said, “I have carefully read Rule 316(d) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. It says that the recommendations of the Committee shall be presented in the form of a report…Ethics Committee can recommend if a person is guilty or innocent but it can’t recommend their punishment. That power lies with this House. The Ethics Committee, at best, can make a recommendation that whether a person is guilty or innocent. It is this House sitting as jury which has the powers to decide the quantum of punishment. So, the recommendation of the Ethics Committee is fundamentally flawed in my respectful submission.”

Several other lawmakers also accused the BJP-led government of “vendetta politics” and dubbed the report “inadequate”.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha was adjourned and would to reconvene on December 11 at 11am.