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Dissent Is All The More Important Today: MP Mohua Moitra Has Arrived

TMC MP Mohua Moitra spoke on religious freedom, media control and losing the voice of dissent, all in her maiden speech at the Parliament.

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Poorvi Gupta
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Mahua Moitra Uses Abusive Language

The first time All India Trinamool Congress’s MP Mohua Moitra made her voice heard and shadowed the rest in the parliament on Wednesday as she spoke up on the vitality of opposition against such a resounding mandate of the BJP government. Moitra spoke during a debate and listed seven “dangerous signs” suggesting that the country is being torn apart.

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She claimed that these are the signs of early fascism as documented in a poster in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her speech of the seven signs came amidst desk thumping by opposition party members and at least one BJP leader, as is the tradition of the parliament of agreeing with a parliamentarian.

The Krishnanagar MP said in her maiden speech, that she “humbly accepts the mandate” in favor of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), adding "dissent is all the more important" today. “It is the very nature of the overwhelmingness of this mandate, of the totality of this mandate, that makes it necessary for us to be heard today, for the voice of dissent to be heard today,” she said.

It is the very nature of the overwhelmingness of this mandate, of the totality of this mandate, that makes it necessary for us to be heard today, for the voice of dissent to be heard today. Mohua Moitra.

She majorly spoke up on the issue of religious freedom, media control and losing the voice of dissent in the country adding that all the members of the house have sworn in to protect the constitution which is under threat today.

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“You may say that ache din are here and that the sun will never set on the Indian Empire that it (the ruling government) is seeking to build. But then, you are missing the signs. Only if you open your eyes, you will see there are signs everywhere that this country is being torn apart,” Moitra claimed.

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Moitra grew up in Assam until she turned 16 which is when she moved to the US where she studied economics and mathematics from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley in Massachusetts, United States of America. After working successfully as an investment banker there, she moved back to India 2008 which is when she joined politics.

The 2019 election was won on WhatsApp, Fake News and manipulating minds. - Mohua Moitra

The MP, who was working as an investment banker for JP Morgan in New York City and London and left as the Vice President of JP Morgan before turning to politics, noted that the first sign of fascism is the nationalism being speared into our national fabric. “It is superficial, it is xenophobic, it is narrow. It has a lust to divide. It is not a desire to unite,” she said.

“Citizens are being thrown out of their homes and are being called illegal immigrants. People who have lived in this country for 50 years have to show a piece of paper to prove they are Indians. In a country where ministers cannot produce degrees to show that they graduated from college, you expect dispossessed poor people to show papers as proof that they belong to this country,” she asked fiercely.

She did not deter from adding, “The 2019 election was won on WhatsApp, Fake News and manipulating minds.”

Moitra’s speech has been appreciated widely for its brazenness and articulation. In fact people have gone to the extent of saying that Moitra’s voice is response to why we need 50% women in the parliament. Twitterati are saluting Moitra’s “courageous” act by speaking up against the majoritarian government. “Very apt, rational and motivational speech by #TMC leader #MohuaMoitra First time a TMC leader impressed me with her dignity and know,” said Twitter user Shantanu Ray.

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Picture credit- DNA India

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