Mahua Moitra

“You have not achieved the goals of a cashless digital economy. You have not achieved the goals of phasing out fake currency even after six years of your ‘dhamaka’ announcement. Currency in circulation has doubled from ₹18 lakh crore in November 2016 to ₹32 lakh crore in November 2022”

“Kali to me is a meat-eating, alcohol accepting goddess. That is a version of Kali. If you go to Tarapith... that is a version of Kali that people worship. Within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper, I have the freedom to imagine my Kali in that way. It is my freedom, and I don’t think anyone’s sentiment should be hurt by that. I have the freedom to do it as much as you have the freedom to worship your god as a vegetarian, white-cloth wearing goddess…. I do think religion should remain in the personal ambit, and as long as I am not interfering in your space, I think we should be allowed that.”

“I think I acted as a mature politician. For long, we had avoided the issue of BJP imposing its own version of Hinduism, which is based on established norms of North India. The party should desist from imposing it on people of other parts of the country such as West Bengal where Hindus follow their well-established rituals for centuries. Who is the BJP to teach us how to conduct puja of Goddess Kali in a particular way?”

“It is India’s greatest tragedy perhaps that the very party Vajpayeeji led as Prime Minister, today leads a government that has turned this very same Parliament into the Colosseum in Rome in the 1st century where like a gladiator the honourable Prime Minister enters to chants of Modi, Modi.”

“The sacred cow that was the judiciary is no longer sacred. It stopped being sacred day a sitting CJI was accused of sexual harassment, presided over own trial, cleared himself & accepted a nomination to Upper House within 3 months of retirement replete with Z+ security cover.”

“The first sign is a powerful and continuing nationalism that is being speared into our national fabric. It is superficial, it is xenophobic, it is narrow. It has a lust to divide. It is not a desire to unite.”

“Once they have the information, who knows what they will do with it. While the case is being fought, we need to stop them. We can’t really ask them ‘give our data back’ even if we win the case, right?”