Minister Pralhad Joshi demands apology from TMC

After Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra used a “offensive” word on the House floor during the current Budget Session in Parliament, senior BJP leader and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi requested an apology from the party on Tuesday.

“I would ask them to apologise but if she doesn’t, then it’s their culture,” Pralhad Joshi said. While TDP MP K Ram Mohan Naidu was addressing the House during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, Moitra used a “offensive word” in the Lok Sabha. According to the eyewitnesses, she allegedly used some unparliamentary language in reference to BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri. Following that, BJP lawmakers caused a scene in the Lower House.

Sukanta Majumdar, the state president of the BJP, released the video of Joshi requesting an apology from the TMC on Twitter. Majumdar described it as “disgusting,” adding, “Look at her sarcastic smile. Disgusting. Will @MamataOfficial still defend her?”

Moitra spoke during the Motion of Thanks and brought up a number of topics, including the Adani, Pegasus, BBC, Morbi, and China issues.

“Today I say this with a very heavy heart. The Lok Sabha is a space which stands out more for what cannot be said in its halls than what we can say. The list of unmentionables is actually far longer than the list of mentionable. It is as though the treasury benches get training in a special camp that teaches them to react hysterically the very instant a member of the Opposition utters certain words, no matter in what context. We cannot say China, Pegasus, BBC, Morbi, Rafale, and sometimes we cannot say Modi ji. The President’s Address speaks about the biggest pain of our country, the corruption and crony capitalism,” she said.

Adani referred to him as Mr. “A” in the House, and Moitra made an apparent allusion to it when he declared that he had misled the government. “Prime Minister, this man Mr ‘A’ has fooled (topi pehnaoed) you. He travels with you on your delegations. He meets heads of state on visits to India. He portrays that India is Prime Minister and the Prime Minister is him. He makes it appear to the world that he is the remote control behind the Prime Minister and by obliging him will be obliging the Prime Minister,” she said.

“Everyone is asking who is behind Mahua. Every day, the fake news brigade floats new theories. Is it an American investment bank? Is it Ambani, or is it China? Nobody is behind Mahua. Mahua is behind the truth,” she asserted.

BJP leaders sparked outrage over her remark in the House and demanded an apology from her. The TMC MP claimed that she was interrupted during her talk “I need to repeat it as they are doing this to heckle me and to ruin the flow of the speech… Mahua is only behind the truth.”

The TMC leader attacked the BJP MPs, claiming that they had been trained to “respond hysterically” whenever an opposition MP addresses the House.