During last year's monsoon session of parliament, opposition members were trying to corner the Modi government during a debate on rising prices. The thrust of their argument was that circumstances had made survival difficult for a common citizen as the household budget had gone awry.
When Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar rose to speak, the Sansad TV camera focused on her. Seated next to her was her party colleague Mahua Moitra. Moitra perhaps realised that the live broadcast on the sensitive topic was also catching her super expensive Louis Vuitton handbag. The next second, she was seen shifting the bag to the floor, away from the camera. That clip went viral.
The bag cost Rs 1.60 lakh. These are personal choices, depending on what one can afford. In this case, we are talking about a Member of parliament. Moitra's profile says she has been an investment banker, so it was naturally assumed that she had that kind of purchasing power.
Since her 2019 debut in parliament with a viral speech targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, Moitra had been kept on the pedestal by the Left-Liberal-Secularist group and other anti-Modi forces. She has also led the charge against the Modi government on almost anything and everything relating to the Adani Group.
It didn't matter that Adani group businesses were expanding within and outside the country and many non-BJP state governments were rolling out the red carpet for the group to invest in the infrastructure sector.
Ironically, the exposé on Moitra's "cash-for-query" exploded on the day Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flagged in the Chinese vessel, Zhen Hua, as the first ship to dock at the Rs 7,700-crore deep water international seaport constructed as a public-private partnership with the Adani Group at Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram. Vijayan called it a "game changer" moment.
It was amusing to see both the CPM-led Left Front and the Congress-led opposition UDF fighting for credit for the project, which is set to be one of the largest in the world.
The allegations made by Supreme Court advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai against Mahua Moitra in his complaint to the CBI, also sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker, are alarming to say the least. A quick look at the complaint, which surfaced on social media, jolts the conscience of any ordinary citizen. The sheer dichotomy between what she preaches and what she practices.
The allegations made by Dehadrai against her were of a very serious nature - ethically, morally, politically and legally. She was accused of lending her parliamentary privileges and immunity to Darshan Hiranandani, CEO of the Hiranandani Group, to seek information relating to his businesses and also, settle scores with his business rival, the Adani Group.
Advocate Dehadrai claims and meticulously lists each of them in his complaint to the CBI and the Lok Sabha Speaker. Of 61 questions asked by Moitra, 50 were either related to the Hiranandani group's business interests or sought information on infra deals relating to the Adani group.
It is anybody's guess why such questions were asked and information sought from the government.
Even more damning is the allegation that she had shared full access to her login as an MP for anyone to post questions and seek answers from the government and to all other things that might be listed on the limited 'authorised only' site. We know that since Covid Indian parliament has gradually become paperless, fully digital.
The use of an MP's login by an unauthorised person raises implications related to the breach of trust, parliamentary privileges and national security issues. In a series of tweets, Moitra said she would welcome a probe. The tone and tenor of her tweets, however, seemed to be more in the nature of arrogance and smugness.
Hiranandani has also denied the allegations.
In last two days, Nishikant Dubey, a vocal BJP MP, has written two letters and has only made it more difficult for Moitra and for Hiranandani.
Dubey's first letter was to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday, calling it the re-emergence of "Cash for Query" (in December 2005, 11 MPs were disqualified from parliament after an expose by the website Cobrapost) and seeking an investigation. He also urged the Speaker to, pending an inquiry, immediately restrict all access and privileges given to Moitra as an MP.
Dubey's second letter went on Monday to Minister of Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnav, copied to Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar. In this, he urged the government to verify allegations made by the lawyer Dehadrai that Moitra had given her parliamentary login access to Hiranandani. Dubey also called for a forensic investigation of IP addresses from where Moitra's account was accessed, to see if it matched her own location on those dates.
The allegation is that Moitra did this in lieu of around Rs 2 crore cash and extravagant gifts of super luxe brands, those that only about two to three per cent Indians would be familiar with, and only a minuscule can afford.
The allegations are far more serious than the 2005 cash-for-query scandal.
What has further complicated matters for Moitra is a response posted by Rajeev Chandrasekhar on X, without naming either the Trinamool MP or Hiranandani, saying that a parliamentary question on data localisation addressed to his ministry was the same for which a company was aggressively lobbying.
Incidentally, among Hiranandani Group companies is Yotta Data Services.
Events since Sunday afternoon suggest there could be multi-pronged inquiry by different agencies into the allegations. It will not be only Mahua Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani - Moitra's party boss and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the INDIA bloc will have a lot to answer in the days to come.
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(Sanjay Singh is a senior journalist based in Delhi)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.