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New Delhi, December 8: Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has alleged that the Ethics Committee of the Lower House of the Indian parliament “broke every rule in the book” following her expulsion from the on December 8.
She had been found guilty of sharing her parliamentary email password with a businessman and accepting gifts from him for asking questions in parliament on his behalf.
Speaking at the steps of the new Parliament House after the Opposition parties walked out flanked by senior Opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah among others said: “I am 49-year-old, I will fight you for the next 30-years inside and outside Parliament.”
“The Ethics Panel is punishing me for a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in the Lok Sabha. In essence, I have been found guilty of breaching the Code of Ethics that does not exist,” said Ms. Moitra.
The findings are based solely on the written testimony of two private citizens whose versions contradict each other in material terms none of whom I was allowed to cross-examine. One of the private citizens is my estranged partner who with malaise masqueraded as a common citizen in front of the committee,” she added.
Ms. Moitra equated her expulsion with hanging by a “kangaroo court” and alleged a parliamentary panel is being weaponised by the government to force the Opposition into submission.
She further claimed that without any evidence of cash or gift, “the ethics panel decided to hang me without getting to the root of the issue.”
“The entire case against me was based on sharing of login details, but no rules govern this aspect,” Ms. Moitra said.
Adopting the recommendation of the Ethics Committee in the ‘cash-for-query’ matter, the Lok Sabha expelled Moitra from the House.
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