NEW DELHI:
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP
Mahua Moitra on Sunday hit out at the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defending herself over her alleged “derogatory” comments against union home minister
Amit Shah. “Idiots don’t understand idioms,” Moitra said, insisting that her remarks were purely idiomatic and had been deliberately twisted by the police.
An FIR has been registered at Raipur’s Mana Camp police station against Moitra under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups) and 197 (imputations prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The case relates to her alleged comment in Bengali that Shah’s “head should be cut off” for failing to check infiltration of illegal Bangladeshis a statement that triggered sharp criticism nationwide.
Clarifying her stand, the TMC MP explained that her words were metaphors in Bengali. “Similarly, in the Bengali language, ‘matha kata jawa, we say lojjay matha kata chhe,’ which means that ‘you are so ashamed that you can cut your own head off.
When we say matha kata jawa, matha ke tebi le rakha, it means taking accountability, owning responsibility. This is an idiom. Now, of course, idiots don’t understand idioms, which is where we are.”
Moitra said her words had been misinterpreted and that she was speaking in metaphors and idioms. “So in June of 2024, when the Lok Sabha results came out, an upke baar, 400 paar fell flat on its face. And the foreign media reported that the results, only 240 seats, was a slap in the face for Narendra Modi. Now, did the BJP's claim really fall flat on its face? No. Did someone go and slap the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji on his face? No.”
“Then everyone said that heads will roll. Did heads roll? Yes, they did. These are what in the English language are called idioms, right? When you say heads will roll, it refers to when kings used to cut the heads off of people who were disobedient. And when you cut the head off, it starts rolling. A beheaded head can only roll. So you don't really cut someone's head off. It's an idiom, it's a metaphor for accountability,” she added.
Moitra also took on Chhattisgarh police directly, accusing them of filing “false cases” and recalling an earlier incident involving migrant workers. “Please do me a favour. Call your colleague. Why Anant Kumar, SP Kondagaon? On the 12th of July, he illegally picked up 12 migrant workers from Kondagaon, Bengali workers from my constituency, booked them under Section 128, falsely filed an FIR, booked them, beat them, arrested them, did not produce them in court, kept them illegally detained, and released them only on the 14th of July.
I went to the Chhattisgarh High Court, which issued notice to you. Now, with your tail between your legs, another idiom, tail between your legs after getting a slap in the face, your colleague has withdrawn the case.”
She alleged that the present FIR was the result of a faulty Google translation. “The FIR says, Mahua Moitra ne kaha gala kaat diya. I said, matha ke tebi le, that's a lot different from gala kaat diya. When you use Google Translate from Bengali to English and English to Hindi to file fake FIRs, this is what happens.”
Moitra said she would challenge the case in court: “Are you done with filing of fake FIRs? I'm going to go to the court again, it will be another slap in the face and then more heads will roll.”
Accusing the BJP of trying to paint her as a “political victim,” she said, “So really, every time you do this, you do this stupidity of making a heroine out of me. You did this before; you expelled me from Parliament, and I won and came back. Every time you do this to me, politically it gets you nowhere, it makes me into Joan of Arc.”
“Haven't you learnt your lesson? Let me be, because every time you try to fight me, you lose, and I win, and I come out stronger. So take your FIRs and keep them where the sun doesn't shine, and hopefully you'll get a better sense soon,” Moitra added.