Tharoor backs Mahua Moitra over circuit house eviction

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday expressed solidarity with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra after the Nadia district administration allegedly tried to evict her from a circuit house in Krishnanagar late Friday night. Moitra, the MP from Krishnanagar, has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking his intervention and has threatened to move court over what she called harassment. She also posted a complaint to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), saying a BJP crowd was chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans outside the guest house after she refused to leave.

Tharoor said all democrats must stand with Moitra. 'If the price of her convictions is that a mob is baying for her, it is the duty of the government to provide her security, not to ask her to vacate government accommodation!' he wrote on X, using the hashtag #StandWithMahua. The Thiruvananthapuram MP added that such elementary considerations should not need to be spelt out, especially on the day marking the culmination of India's freedom struggle.

Moitra told the Speaker that she was entitled to stay at the circuit house as a sitting MP. She said she received a call at 9.47 pm from the additional district magistrate saying an order from the top required her to vacate. At 10.52 pm, she received a copy of an administration order stating no new reservations would be honoured at the circuit house. Moitra claimed no one informed her of any booking embargo when she checked in. She has urged the Speaker to ensure the dignity of women parliamentarians.