The Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee has recommended the expulsion of Mahua Moitra, the parliamentarian from the All India Trinamul Congress, from the House on account of unethical conduct. Ms Moitra has been accused of sharing her Lok Sabha login credentials with an unauthorised person and raising questions against the Adani Group in lieu of cash and gifts from a businessman. All eyes would now be on the Speaker and the action he takes after receiving the report from the Ethics Committee. But it would be worth examining whether the Ethics Committee’s conduct has been unprejudiced. One of the grounds on which the committee suggested Ms Moitra’s expulsion was that her parliamentary credentials had been allegedly accessed online on several occasions from Dubai: parliamentary queries had also been submitted from abroad. But as has been pointed out, drafting and submissions of questions are usually handled by the aides of parliamentarians. Why was Ms Moitra singled out? Moreover, the matter of establishing the alleged money trail received by the accused has not been proved thus far, with the Ethics Committee conceding that it did not have the technical wherewithal or expertise to investigate and prove the charge. It must be pointed out that the expulsion of parliamentarians, although rare, is not unprecedented: 11 MPs had been removed from the House in 2005, but the money trail had been established clearly on that occasion. The Ethics Committee’s alacrity in recommending Ms Moitra’s expulsion — all it took were three sittings — without much being available by way of concrete evidence makes it appear that the committee was not exactly immune to political compulsions and partisanship when it reached its contentious decision.
The political outcome of this episode could be interesting. Even though the TMC general-secretary and heir apparent, Abhishek Banerjee, has made sympathetic noises, Mamata Banerjee appears to be unwilling to show her cards on the matter just yet. This may not be very assuring for Ms Moitra’s political future. But then the Bharatiya Janata Party, desperate to shield Narendra Modi from piercing questions about his alleged patronage of the Adani Group, is not exactly in a comfortable position either. Ms Moitra’s expulsion, if it is upheld by the Speaker, would only intensify speculation about the BJP pursuing a vendetta against parliamentarians willing to interrogate the Adani Group’s dealings. The game, as they say, is on. The verdict that matters is the one that will be delivered by the people’s court.
