Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, often fawned all over the internet's liberal circles for her gift of the gab, persuasive reasoning and good command over English -- more than her actual politics -- has made a 'brand' out of sassy remarks and unapologetic bashing of those against her in the political battlefront.
However, much unlike the chief of her party and state, she has often been seen misfiring insults in bad faith, which end up ridiculously ill-timed and damaging to the goodwill one holds over politics.
This time, the firebrand leader trained her guns on journalists, of all professionals. In a controversial moment on Sunday, the Krishnanagar MP lashed out at the scribes present at a TMC meeting being held at Gayeshpur in West Bengal's Nadia district -- calling them '2 paise ke patrakar'.
According to a report by India Today, the incident unfolded when Moitra went to Nadia to attend an internal party meeting but was instead met with factionalism, as several party workers protested the town president of the area with placards in their hands which stated, "We don’t want the outsiders to be our president."
Although the aforementioned report quotes Moitra as denying having made any remarks on the scribes, she later told The Wire that she stood by her words and that the press shouldn't have attended an internet meeting of the party.
The report goes to elaborate on her defence over the remark, whereby Moitra reasoned that local "stringers" were called by one of the two "warring factions" [within the TMC] to gain leverage for their cause.
The TMC MP, disappointed with the sudden appearance of scribes at the site of an internal meeting, told the party workers 'Why do you call these 'dui poeshar press' here?' which ended up being recorded by "someone at a distance", much to the Parliamentarian's misfortune.
The Kolkata Press Club, later in the day, found the ocassion to condemn the Trinamool MP over her remark on journalists.
In a release written in Bengali, the Press Club said that it is "deeply concerned" and "severely condemns" the remark made by Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra regarding journalists.
"Her comment is, without a doubt, insulting and unwarranted. In a democratic setup, the importance of journalism and the respect it commands is undisputed. The professional struggle and social responsibility of a journalist, even in adverse situations, is globally acknowledged. No one has the right to attack the professionals attached to this noble work. We condemn the comment made by the Member of Parliament and hope that she will revoke her remark and apologise for the same," the statement reads.
The Kolkata Press Club is headed by Doordarshan journalist Snehasis Sur and regional newspaper Sangbad Pratidin‘s Kinshuk Pramanik, who signed the statement.
For her part though, Mahua Moitra did not seem too concerned about apologising for her remarks. She blasted the Press Club for "wasting time" issuing these statements and asked them to first look at the "miserable state of the paid godi media".
Later, taking to Twitter, she even posted an admittedly self-edited "meme", sardonically showcasing that she was not at all seriously apologetic for her remarks.
Journalists need not be wary, however, for the profession has braved and survived harsher storms over the years than those posed by former investment bankers and their pitch-perfect English accents.
