India’s opposition alliance rallies around expelled MP, but analysts see tough road ahead for grouping

NEW DELHI – India’s new opposition alliance has thrown its weight behind Ms Mahua Moitra, a banker-turned-lawmaker who was expelled from Parliament over a cash-for-query scandal in the lead-up to the general election.

Ms Moitra, a fiery orator from the Trinamool Congress, was expelled when a majority of lawmakers in the Lower House dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) voted on Dec 8 to remove her.

She admitted to sharing her parliamentary log-in details with Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani, but denied charges that she asked parliamentary questions targeting India’s second-richest businessman Gautam Adani at the behest of Mr Hiranandani.

Ms Moitra, a 49-year-old former investment banker at JPMorgan Chase, is accused of receiving cash and gifts from Mr Hiranandani by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who filed a complaint against her.

She has appealed to the Supreme Court against her expulsion.

Still, the scandal, which erupted in October, has hogged news headlines in India for the speed with which Ms Moitra was expelled, and for the details that have emerged about her. The personal lives of politicians are rarely discussed in India.

It has also raised questions over whether the five-month-old Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance – consisting of 28 opposition parties with different ideologies and struggling to unite – can use the targeting of Ms Moitra by the BJP to move ahead on a common agenda.

Surrounded by fellow alliance members, including Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Ms Moitra, who has said the charges were trumped up, warned the BJP that she would continue to fight the party “inside the Parliament and outside; in the gutter and on the streets”.

Ms Moitra does not quite fit the mould of a typical Indian politician. The divorcee has not shied away from revealing she has a “jilted ex” or that she occasionally enjoys a glass of champagne – Indian conservatives do not like to see women drinking or in relationships outside of marriage.

A picture of her playfully holding a cigar, and shots of her with a Louis Vuitton bag – including during a parliamentary debate on rising prices – were also used as political fodder by the BJP and its supporters.

In the latest scandal, Mr Dubey said he had obtained the evidence from Ms Moitra’s “jilted ex”, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.

The former couple have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their pet Rotweiller dog called Henry.

In interviews with the Indian media, Ms Moitra refuted claims of receiving gifts from Mr Hiranandani in exchange for asking questions in Parliament and accused the BJP of a bad hit job. 

She revealed a list of the gifts, including Bobby Brown lipsticks and a Hermes scarf, that she had accepted from Mr Hiranandani, whom she described as a “dear friend”, even though he has released a statement supporting the allegations against her.

Ms Moitra maintained that the real estate tycoon was under pressure from the government.

On Nov 2, she, along with other opposition members, stormed out of an ethics committee meeting, saying she faced “unethical, sordid and prejudiced behaviour”. At the meeting, she was reportedly asked personal questions, including details of her late-night calls and her relationship with Mr Hiranandani.

On Dec 8, Ms Moitra was expelled from Parliament after Speaker Om Birla accepted the ethics committee’s 500-page report, which accused her of “immoral and indecent” conduct for taking cash and gifts from Mr Hiranandani. The opposition said it was not given adequate time to read the report.

The opposition benches have long accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of crony capitalism when it comes to Mr Adani. Both hail from Gujarat and Mr Adani’s success in business has coincided with Mr Modi’s dominance in Indian politics.

Still, larger questions continue to plague the opposition alliance.

Analysts said that the bloc is still struggling to find its feet to mount a challenge against Mr Modi as he makes a bid for a third consecutive term in power.

His BJP received a fresh political boost after securing wins against the Congress in recent elections in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Mr Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, said: “I think after the state election results, in which BJP swept the Hindi belt and won very convincingly, the chances of the opposition alliance being able to put up a credible fight against the BJP have diminished considerably.”

“They will have to go to the drawing board and start afresh,” he added.

Still, some see the expulsion of Ms Moitra as an opportunity for the opposition to unite more cohesively.

“What the BJP seems to have gifted the beleaguered opposition – in disarray once again after the Congress’ poor showing in the recent assembly polls – is an opportunity to regroup. But it remains to be seen whether it can reap electoral dividends from this chapter,” Indian newspaper The Telegraph said in an editorial on Dec 11.

The opposition alliance was formed in July after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, an MP from Wayanad in Kerala state, was expelled from Parliament in March. He was convicted of defamation for a remark equating the Modi surname with thieves and was given a two-year jail sentence. But his position was reinstated in August after the Supreme Court suspended the conviction.

Dr Sandeep Shastri, national coordinator at Lokniti network, a research programme, noted that the opposition alliance has yet to agree on issues such as seat sharing, particularly in states where alliance members were pitted against one another.

“They do not seem to have made sufficient progress in any of the issues, with elections less than seven to eight months away,” said Dr Shastri.