Amid the drama over certain media outlets falsely accusing Mahua Moitra of having plagiarised her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha, the TMC MP submitted a breach of privilege motion against Zee TV and its editor Sudhir Chaudhary in the Parliament on Thursday.
While Zee TV was first to give a platform to these accusations, ANI reported that Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla disallowed the breach of privilege motion.
Moitra told the Lok Sabha, “Sir, under Rule 225, I have given a breach of privilege notice against Zee TV and its editor, Sudhir Chaudhary for falsely reporting my maiden address in this august House.”
Moitra had on Wednesday given a dressing down to reporters who falsely accused her of plagiarism. This came after the author of the Washington Monthly article, that Zee TV had cited as the source that Moitra had plagiarised from, took to Twitter to defend the MP.
“Martin Longman vo aap jaise press ke baare mein abhi kya btaya hai, vo aap padh lijiye,” Moitra told the media while referring to Longman’s tweet.
Longman had said:
He also said that Moitra did not “steal or plagiarize anything”.
While Longman’s article also referred to the list on the signs of fascism that Moitra had mentioned in her speech, it wasn’t written by him — a piece of information missed by the media outlets that accused her.
The list was originally created by Laurence W. Brit in 2003 for an article published in the Free Inquiry Magazine. Brit’s list was subsequently adapted by Longman for his article in the Washington Monthly.
Moitra had also issued a statement on Wednesday:
It was put up at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 and Moitra had mentioned this during her speech that went viral. She had said, “In 2017, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum put up a poster in its main lobby and it contained a list of all the signs of early fascism. Each of the seven signs I have pointed to you featured in that poster.”
You can read the full text of Moitra’s speech here.