Justice Markandey Katju tears into The Wire and Mahua Moitra and calls out their hypocrisy

TMC MP Mahua Moitra is now the new poster girl for the left liberals.  Following her speech in the parliament, she was hailed as the torchbearer of Indian democracy. She has been praised to the levels that even if she goes on to whitewash the suicide bomber who murdered 44 CRPF personnel in Pulwama, the left-liberal media deliberately ignores her antics in order to portray her as the only hope against the ‘fascist government of PM Modi.’

As such, it came as no surprise when notorious left liberal mouthpiece The Wire sang paeans on her speech. In his article titled India’s Emerging Fascism is on the record, thanks to Mahua Moitra, Siddharth Bhatia, also co-founder of The Wire ensured that no stone is left unturned in praising Mahua for her speech.

To quote an excerpt from his speech, “She was not hedging – she laid into the government and the BJP. Nor did she indulge in mere rhetoric and bluster – it was a measured speech, with research and well-honed argument of the kind that strikes home. Long after the first buzz around her subsides, the effect of her words will linger – a new foundation has been laid, upon which further debates can happen in the public arena. Learned pundits and public intellectuals often make similar points, usually in polemical and convoluted terms that don’t have a mass impact, but it is the likes of Moitra who puts it squarely on the table for others to pick up.”

He also expressed disdain at the criticism meted out to her, especially with respect to the charges of plagiarism. This was clearly reflective in his dismissive retort about the same, as follows – “She has come in for the usual criticism, much of which is easy to shrug off, but some have sought to ‘expose’ her, by alleging, in the main, that her speech was ‘plagiarised’. Apparently, it has been used before and therefore Moitra’s speech somehow is tainted and thus she shouldn’t be taken seriously.

The weakness and shallowness of this argument are obvious. Moitra says her thoughts on the subject were triggered by something she had once seen in the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. ‘The Early Warning Signs of Fascism’ poster has been circulated on social media for years, as much in the US as in India.”

However, one man didn’t take this over the top appreciation of Mahua Moitra lightly. Retired Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju, known very well for his controversial speeches, slammed both Mahua Moitra and Siddharth Bhatia for their respective actions. In a long rebuttal to both, he termed Mahua as a hypocrite, and labeled her speech as a classic example of ‘the pot calling the kettle black.’

To quote an excerpt from Katju’s rebuttal, “Mahua joined the Trinamul Congress in 2010. Did she raise her voice against her leader Mamata Banerji acting in a racist manner when in 2012 she got Prof Ambikesh Mahapatra of Jadavpur University — who circulated a poof of Mamata on the social media – arrested, or the farmer Siladitya Choudhary who was arrested only because he said in a public meeting that Mamata had not kept her election promises?

Did Mahua Moitra publicly protest when TMC goons beat up Prof Mahapatra or did other acts of hooliganism, or were her lips sealed then? I never heard that she did, though she was a member of TMC then. So does it now lie in her mouth to talk of signs of fascism when the leader of her own party is fascist? Is it not like the pot calling the kettle black?”

This was not all. Markandey Katju even slammed Siddharth Bhatia for ignoring the hypocritical side of Mahua Moitra. To quote another excerpt, “In his article in the wire.in Sidhartha Bhatia has waxed eloquent on Mahua Moitra’s maiden speech in Parliament in which she spoke of 7 early signs of fascism. He writes “She has done the job of finally saying the unsayable in the most important forum in the country. What
Siddharth Bhatia overlooks is one thing: who says something is as important as what he/she says. Surely one would laugh if Hitler, Mussolini or General Tojo spoke against fascism.”

Markandey Katju further went to the extent of exposing Mahua Moitra’s hypocrisy, accusing her of treating the Muslims as ‘milch cows’. Following is an excerpt of his reply to one aggrieved FB user –

While one may or may not agree with the opinions of Markandey Katju, but whenever he makes sense, he absolutely nails it. In slamming Mahua Moitra, he has completely exposed her hypocritical side to one and all, and one must appreciate him for bringing forward the side of Mahua Moitra no left-liberal wishes to be exposed.