Tharoor Stands With Mahua Moitra, Slams Move to Vacate Her From Circuit House

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday expressed solidarity with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra after she alleged that the Nadia district administration attempted to force her to vacate a circuit house in Krishnanagar late at night.

Tharoor said that if Moitra faced threats because of her political convictions, it was the government’s responsibility to ensure her security rather than ask her to leave government accommodation. He said all democrats should stand with the Krishnanagar MP and criticised what he described as a failure to uphold basic democratic principles.

“If the price of her convictions is that a mob is baying for her, it is the duty of the government to provide her security, not to ask her to vacate government accommodation,” Tharoor said on X, using the hashtag #StandWithMahua.

Moitra has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking urgent intervention into the alleged incident. She claimed that a large crowd gathered outside the circuit house on Friday night and shouted “Jai Shree Ram” slogans after she declined to leave.

In her letter, Moitra urged Birla to ensure the dignity and security of women parliamentarians, arguing that efforts to increase women’s representation would be meaningless if elected women could not be protected.

According to Moitra, she checked into the circuit house around 6.15 pm, was allotted her usual room and was served tea and dinner. At 9.47 pm, she said, the additional district magistrate of Nadia called and asked her to vacate, citing an order that had allegedly come “from the top”.

She later received a WhatsApp message containing an order stating that the circuit house would be unavailable from the evening of August 14 for annual maintenance and cleaning. The order exempted reservations confirmed before August 13.

Moitra maintained that her booking had already been confirmed and that no official had informed her about the restrictions when she made the reservation or checked in. She has also threatened legal action over the alleged harassment.