By Hazel Gandhi
An old video of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra being manhandled by the Delhi Police is viral online as a recent video and is being connected to her recent expulsion from the Lok Sabha.
BOOM found that the claims are false and the video is from October 2023 when Moitra, along with other senior party leaders was dragged out of New Delhi's Krishi Bhawan following a sit-in protest.
Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha on December 8 over cash-for-query allegations, after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi accused her of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for asking questions in the Lok Sabha. Moitra, while speaking to reporters outside the Lok Sabha called her expulsion a "hanging by a Kangaroo court", after she wasn't given the chance to speak on the floor of the House despite being nominated as the main speaker by her party.
Amid this, a video showing Moitra being detained by the Delhi Police who are seen dragging her out forcibly is viral online as a recent video. A caption on X reads, "TMC MP Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Parliament over cash for a query case. She was expelled in this manner. Your views?"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Another caption on X reads, "#MahuaMoitra expelled as a Member of the Lok Sabha. India will not tolerate the insult of Mahua Moitra 🤣🤣"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from October 2023 and shows Moitra being detained after attending a sit-in protest at Krishi Bhawan after being denied a meeting with Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
We ran a keyword search of the video on Google and found several reports from October 3 that carried visuals similar to the viral video. This Hindustan Times report titled 'Video: Mahua Moitra dragged out as police remove TMC leaders from protest site; ‘Woh ek MP hain’ detailed how Moitra was detained by security personnel during a sit-in protest.
According to reports, Moitra, along with TMC's general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were scheduled to meet Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti regarding the alleged nonpayment of wages under the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme) in West Bengal. The MPs were made to wait for over 90 minutes before being told that Jyoti would not be meeting them. The MPs, however, did not leave and staged a protest at the ministry following which they were forcibly dragged out and later detained by the Delhi Police.
The Hindu reported that TMC had turned up with 30 parliamentarians and 10 ministers along with other beneficiaries under the scheme despite being told that only five people would be allowed to attend the meeting.
Moitra, too, shared the viral video on her official X account on October 3 with the caption, "This is how elected MPs of the world’s largest democracy are treated after being given an appointment to meet with a Minister of the Govt of India (which she refused to honour after making us wait 3 hours) Shame @narendramodi shame @AmitShah."
Other reports from October carrying the viral video can be seen here and here.
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