Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has once again come into the headlines for her fiery and controversial statement against the ruling government.
Mahua Moitra has now accused the present government of unleashing what she calls a ‘troll army’ against anybody who speaks against the government. She asserted that it was possible for one to be against the ruling government and still be pro-India.
What she meant was that she had a strong disagreement to the idea that criticism of the ruling government should be equated to holding anti-national intentions and there could be people who speak against the government or look at its policies with a critical eye but love their nation.
She issued this statement while addressing the Lok Sabha on The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019. She called the amendment bill anti-constitutional, anti-federal and against the people of the nation. She said that it was a big concern for the nation that each time the Opposition speaks critically about the government or disagrees to the way the ruling government addresses questions of national security, they are termed as anti-national. When Moitra made this statement, there was an uprising in the Lok Sabha and MPs of the ruling party started giving counter allegations. They refuted Moitra’s claims and said that the ruling party had never called anybody anti-national and that no member of the parliament should be allowed to make allegations against the ruling party without substantiating it with valid illustrations.
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi who was in the Chair reminded her that nobody was allowed to issue defamatory statements against the other without giving prior notice, according to the rules of the House. On this, Moitra clarified that the statement which she had made was not against any one particular member but against propaganda.
Mahua Moitra made strong observations on the Bill and said that it was dangerous because it would designate individuals as terrorists without even undergoing the due process and also warned that the Bill would take away the powers of the State as it would be heckled from Treasury Benches.
