- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
While Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate despite being summoned, MP Mahua Moitra stormed out of the ethics committee over ‘inappropriate’ questioning in a bribery charge.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IT is often said that in the current Indian politics, prime minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are unstoppable as the opposition have been effective in projecting a counter narrative. Modi, who will complete a decade in office next year, is now eyeing his third consecutive term and the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP, along with the prime minister, is already claiming a successful electoral campaign in 2024.
The opposition, on the other hand, have tried to revamp their presence in the past few months. They also gave their unity a new name INDIA which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance to project the 2024 elections as a battle between Modi and ‘INDIA’. It is not that the ruling coalition has not reacted to it, but popular surveys suggest that the NDA and its leader are still at an advantage against the opposition alliance. There have also been instances where the INDIA alliance has been found to be not completely at unison over certain issues, giving birth to suspicion that a united fight against Modi will remain an unfulfilled mission.
In this situation, three incidents happened on Thursday (2) that would give the opposition a major boost ahead of the big election next year and the five-state polls this month that are being described as the ‘semi finals’.
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi and a major critic of Modi, on Thursday refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s financial crimes agency that summoned him in an alleged corruption case. He called the summons “vague and motivated”. The ED is probing a case related to a liquor policy in Delhi which has now been scrapped. Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has defeated Modi’s BJP in two consecutive elections in Delhi, wrote to the ED asking it to “recall the summons”. The politician said he had to campaign for the upcoming state elections besides carrying out his chief ministerial duties.
Kejriwal, 55, was summoned the same morning, but he released the statement minutes before showing up at the ED office, saying the summons “was unclear” about whether he was a witness or a suspect in the case. He also said he was not clear whether he was being summoned as the chief minister of the national convenor of the AAP.
According to legal experts, an individual can overlook the ED summons thrice after which the agency can get a non-bailable warrant mandating his/her presence in the court on a given date.
Many opposition leaders, including Kejriwal, have alleged that the ED, which reports to the Modi government, is being used by the rulers to target them ahead of the 2024 general elections. The government denies it.
Manish Sisodia and Satyender Jain, two of Kejriwal’s major colleagues in Delhi government, have been arrested since May 2022 on charges of corruption and the AAP slammed the Modi government saying they were victims of political vendetta.
Mahua Moitra, a parliamentarian from the opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) and a fierce critic of Modi and the BJP, on Thursday stormed out of a meeting of the ethics committee of the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament alleging that she was asked “filthy questions” during an inquiry into allegations of bribery.
The 49-year-old west-educated MP who represents Krishnagar constituency in the eastern state of West Bengal, has been accused of taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore (£196,678) for asking questions in the parliament. However, she alleged that the committee members were asking her questions that are personal. She was joined by other opposition MPs in the panel, including Danish Ali of the Bahujan Samaj Party who recently faced Islamophobic rants by a BJP colleague in the parliament.
“They are asking filthy questions… picking on anything. Talking rubbish,” a fuming Moitra told the media while walking away. The committee members, on the other hand, accused her of being uncooperative and left in order to avoid more questioning.
Opposition MPs claimed that the chief of the panel, a BJP member, repeatedly asked Moitra personal questions, including her links with businessman Darshan Hiranandani, whom she admitted giving access to her account on the parliament’s website.
Moitra has denied allegations that she took a bribe to pose questions.
According to sources, some of these “filthy” questions that were put before the parliamentarian included: ‘How many times did you contact Mr Hiranandani in 2023?’; ‘How many times did you visit Dubai?’; and ‘Which hotel did you stay (in Dubai)?’
It was reported that the panel chief was not satisfied with Moitra’s replies even if she had answered some of them and repeated them.
Moitra is no stranger to controversies but is not known for mincing words when it comes to targeting the Modi government.
Moitra later wrote to Om Birla, speaker of the Lok Sabha, alleging that she had been subjected to the proverbial “Vastraharan” (disrobing) by the chief of the panel in the presence of all members of the committee. She also alleged “unethical, sordid, demeaning and prejudiced behaviour meted out” to her during the questioning.
The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the north-western state of Rajasthan on Thursday arrested two officers of the ED for allegedly accepting bribes in the state. The duo allegedly took Rs 15 lakh (£14,751) to stop a chit fund-related case from being filed. The ACB said the two officers were caught while taking the money.
“A team of the ACB caught the two ED inspectors accepting Rs 15 lakh. The ACB is searching the premises of the ED inspectors,” the state anti-corruption body in the poll-bound state ruled by the Indian National Congress said. The Congress is eyeing a return to power while the BJP is desperate to win it back ahead of the national elections.
On Monday (30), the ED questioned Vaibhav Gehlot, son of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, for long hours in a case that allegedly violated foreign-exchange norms. The ED’s action that came just a month ahead of the state elections on November 25 was termed as political vendetta by the Gehlot government. The chief minister said the central agencies have lost credibility due to alleged misuse by the Modi government.
