Meet Mahua Moitra: A TMC MP whose debut speech in Lok Sabha made her an overnight star
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra’s “voice of dissent” has found admirers in many quarters across the country. The opposition looked feeble after the thumping victory of Narendra Modi-led UPA government. Now, all of a sudden, there is someone on the left side of the honourable speaker. There is someone who is going to ask uncomfortable questions to the government.
Moitra broke the Internet with her maiden speech at the Lok Sabha on June 25. Her speech had quotes from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.
Moitra later told the BBC that it was her job to “highlight the failings of the government”.
“That is my job and I will do that to the best of my ability," she added.
Her fiery speech on fascism attracted attention not only from national but international media as well. In addition to the BBC, Australia’s SBS News, too, covered the first-time MP’s “spirited speech”.
The 44-year-old firebrand politician graduated in maths and economics from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. As the vice-president of JPMorgan, she was posted in London and New York.
In 2015, Verve called her a “stylista” as the magazine included her in the list of best-dressed people in India. Considered a taskmaster known for shaking hands with her voters, Moitra does have a weakness for Bobbi Brown eye pencils and Carnation lip colours. She would “never ever wear flats with a sari,” she claimed.
Moitra, who left her lucrative career in banking to venture into the political arena, finds several similarities between politics and investment banking.
"The three important things you need in investment banking are what you need in politics. The first is hard work -- the capacity for both mental and physical labour. The second is self-discipline. Politics is a long road and there are ups and downs. If you're not disciplined, it's easy to lose oneself," she told Rediff News. "And the third is perseverance. In politics, there are many shooting stars but the ones who have tenacity make it."
Many have found a hero in the banker-turned-politician. The speech has made her an overnight star. Women are now picturing her as Mamata Banerjee’s successor, the next chief minister of West Bengal, reported The Quint which called Moitra’s Lok Sabha speech “savage” that ended with the following quote from Urdu poet Raahat Indori:
“Jo aaj saahibe masnad hain kal nahin honge/Kiraaydaar hain jaati makaan thodi hai, Sabhi ka khoon shaamil yahan ki mitti me/ Kisi ke baap ka hindustan thodi hai? (The man sitting in the throne will leave eventually. It’s not his own house; he is just a tenant. This soil has everybody’s blood in it. Nobody’s father owns India.”