Mahua Moitra says BJP govt. preventing her from functioning as MP; SC seeks reply from Centre, Bengal

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Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra. File | Photo Credit: PTI

The Supreme Court on Thursday (October 1, 2026) sought responses from the Union government and the State of West Bengal to a petition filed by Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra alleging a concerted effort by the State authorities and the police, using goons and mobs, to impede her from freely accessing her constituency.

A Bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of both the Union and the State governments, to file counter-affidavits to the petition.

Ms. Moitra, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Yashwant Singh, said the shift in the State’s ruling dispensation in May 2026 saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) come into power for the first time in West Bengal, with her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), transitioning to the Opposition.

Since then, she said, the distinction between ‘party’ and the ‘government’ had been “obliterated” in West Bengal. Civil and police authorities had been covertly encouraged to “shun” a duly-elected Opposition MP, and “drive her out of her constituency only because of her political affiliation”.

“The new State government has made it impossible for the petitioner to function as an MP by seeking to evict her from her local accommodation at the Circuit House and drive her into the hands of a politically charged mob; by holding up development works under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme; by not allowing her to hold any outdoor party or public meetings; tacitly allowing goons and mobs from the ruling party to physically attack her; and registration of multiple FIRs against her,” the petition said.

Any attempt by a State government to impede the functioning of a parliamentarian was a grave attack on the federal principle, Ms. Moitra said.

Civil and police authorities in Krishnanagar had, at the behest of their political bosses, refused to extend any support to her in the discharge of her duties as an MP since May 2026, she said.

“Whenever the Petitioner has sought to inspect ongoing MPLAD works, the local police station, through informal channels, has refused to facilitate the same, and no district official has agreed to accompany her. No response has been received to multiple complaints filed where BJP mobs have menaced her and physically assaulted her, and BJP-affiliated individuals have openly called for her assassination on public fora and social media posts,” the petition noted.

The MP said she was not lacking in courage, having taken the plunge into politics, to face her political detractors, and did so, fiercely.

“However, she cannot be expected to independently discharge her duties as an MP under constant threats towards her safety, not only from political detractors, but also from collusive State functionaries,” the petition said.

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