“Proverbial Vastraharan…” Mahua Moitra writes to Lok Sabha Speaker after walking out of Ethics Committee

“Filthy questions they were asking…”, TMC Member of Parliament Mahua Moira stormed out of the Ethics Committee hearing and later shot off a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla alleging that she was subjected to humiliation. She described it as "proverbial vastraharan (stripping)" - drawing parallels with Mahabharat’s disrobing of Draupadi in open court.

“The chairman today insisted on following the most sordid line of questioning while reading from a script (no doubt prepared by some interested parties in which he asked me detailed and extremely personal questions about my private life. He continued even after being warned multiple times by other members of the committee to refrain from this filthy line of questioning”, wrote Moitra in her letter to the speaker. She further added the chairman “could not ask me detailed personal questions making insinuations about my dignity as a woman”.

Moitra claimed the ethics committee had no ethics left and also demanded the rules and guidelines be better communicated to the MPs. She reiterated that as far as Lok Sabha email was concerned she hadn’t shared that Login ID or password with anyone. While defending herself against the allegations of “cash for query”, she has urged for protection from the Speaker from being subjected to “personal humiliation and malicious conduct”.

“Sir, this government under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister claims to do everything possible to respect women and uphold their dignity…How shameful is it then that I, as one of only 78 female members of the Lok Sabha are subjected to a ‘Vastraharan’ in the name of an Ethics Committee hearing by the chairperson of the committee.”, Moitra wrote in her letter which had also posted on her ‘X’ handle.​