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'Mob Baying For Her': Tharoor Backs Mahua Moitra Amid Circuit House Eviction Bid Row
ABP Live News | August 16, 2026 1:11 PM CST

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday expressed solidarity with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra after she alleged that the Nadia district administration tried to make her vacate a circuit house where she had been allotted accommodation.

Tharoor said the government should ensure Moitra's security if she was facing threats, rather than asking her to leave government accommodation.

In a post on X with the hashtag 'Stand With Mahua', Thaoroor wrote: "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!"

He said all democrats should stand with Moitra and questioned the circumstances surrounding the incident. "Such elementary considerations should not be spelt out in a democracy, least of all on the day that marks the culmination of our freedom struggle."

Moitra Seeks Lok Sabha Speaker's Intervention

Moitra has approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking his intervention over the Nadia administration's alleged attempt to make her leave the circuit house after she was initially allotted a room there.

The Krishnanagar MP has also threatened legal action over what she described as harassment. She alleged that a large crowd gathered outside the circuit house on Friday night and shouted 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans after she refused to leave.

In her letter to Birla, Moitra sought urgent intervention and said the matter should be addressed to protect the dignity of women parliamentarians.

"I kindly request you to urgently look into the matter and take necessary steps to set an example and ensure the dignity of women parliamentarians across the country," she said. 

She further questioned the effectiveness of efforts to increase women's representation if elected women MPs could not be protected.

"Any Women's Reservation Bill seeking to bring in more women is a matter of jest unless your august office can protect the 74 women who have battled great odds to enter this House," she added.

Moitra Details Sequence Of Events

Moitra said she had gone to the Krishnanagar circuit house for an overnight stay after a Parliament session and maintained that, as an MP, she was entitled to stay there.

According to her account, she entered the room at around 6.15 pm, where staff showed her to her usual room. She said tea was served at 7 pm and dinner at 9.20 pm.

She claimed she received a call from the additional district magistrate of Nadia at 9.47 pm, informing her that she had to vacate the premises.

"When I asked him the reason, he said that the 'order had come from the top', and he was only conveying the message," Moitra said in her letter.

She added that at 10.52 pm, she received a WhatsApp message from the district administration containing an order stating that no new reservations would be honoured at the circuit house.

Administration Cites Maintenance Work

The order issued by the Nezarath deputy collector of Nadia, which Moitra had earlier posted on social media, said the circuit house would remain unavailable for service from the evening of August 14 until further orders.

"In view of facilitating the annual maintenance cum upkeep and cleaning arrangements, the Nadia circuit house (at Krishnanagar) shall not be available for service from the evening of August 14, 2026, till further orders."

It also stated: "Reservations already confirmed prior to 13th August, 2026, only shall be exempted from the general purview of this order."

Moitra claimed that the district administration did not inform her about any booking restrictions either when she made the reservation or when she checked into the circuit house.

(With inputs from PTI)


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