'Mob baying for her': Shashi Tharoor backs Mahua Moitra after late-night eviction bid

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday came out in support of TMC MP Mahua Moitra who alleged that the Nadia district administration tried to evict her from a circuit house late at night on Friday. After Moitra raised matter with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global body of parliamentarians, Tharoor also urged all democrats to stand in solidarity with her.

In a midnight post on August 15, Moitra wrote, "Dear IPUparliament I am a sitting woman MP in India. I was asked by govt to vacate my room in official guest house at 21:47 hrs and then at 22:52 hrs. While a BJP crowd is baying for my blood outside the gates."

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As India marked its 80th Independence Day on Saturday, the TMC MP said, “This is state of democracy in India.”

Stand with Mahua: Tharoor

Responding to Moitra's X post, Tharoor urged the government to provide security to the TMC MP when "a mob is baying for her", instead of asking her to vacate the government accommodation.

"Such elementary considerations should not be spelt out in a democracy, least of all on the day that marks the culmination of our freedom struggle," the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said. Tharoor ended his message with #StandWithMahua.

Moitra writes to Lok Sabha speaker

Mahua Moitra wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking his intervention in the matter. She alleged that the Nadia district administration tried force her to vacate a circuit house, a room in which was officially allotted to her initially.

The TMC MP from Krishnanagar said she will move court against the harassment as a large crowd chanted 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans outside the circuit house after she refused to leave.

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Urging the speaker to protect dignity of women MPs, Moitra wrote, “I kindly request you to urgently look into the matter and take necessary steps to set an example and ensure the dignity of women parliamentarians across the country.”

Moitra was at the circuit house in Krishnanagar for an overnight stay after a Parliament session. asserted that as an MP she was entitled to stay there, but was being pressured by the district authorities to move out in the middle of the night with the intent to harass her.

"I went into the room of the Circuit House around 6.15 pm. The staff showed me to my usual room, which was made up and ready. Tea was served in my room at 7 pm, and dinner was served at 9.20 pm in the room.

"At 9.47 pm, I received a call from the additional district magistrate of Nadia, who informed me that I needed to vacate the premises. When I asked him the reason, he said that the 'order had come from the top', and he was only conveying the message," she wrote.