Mahua Moitra said he would not apologize for something he said to workers in his own party.
Calcutta:
A dispute has broken out over Trinamool deputy, Mahua Moitra, who calls some reporters filming a fight between her party’s workers “two paisa media.” It has sparked a backlash from sections of the media, including the 75-year-old Kolkata Press Club.
Trinamool leaders mostly keep their distance or condemn the comment.
Mahua Moitra told NDTV that he did not attack the media, but rebuked his party workers for getting “two local interlocutors with mobile phones” to film the fight.
Journalists from the Nadia district, of which Ms. Moitra is the president of the Trinamool district, are on the streets. A song by one of them has gone viral.
The incident took place in Gayeshpur in Nadia on December 6. Ms. Moitra had arrived at the site of the internal meeting when she saw protests from supporters of a former chairman of the Trinamool municipal committee, Mintu Dey. They shouted “outsider” slogans against the new Bapi Chakraborty municipal committee.
Moitra said he was trying to resolve the matter when Chakraborty’s men came out of the hall and got into a fight with Mintu Dey supporters.
He also noted that “two local stringers with telephones” were filming the fight.
“I was inside the venue behind a fence. I had a Mike and I yelled at my party workers to get people to film the fight which would then be posted on social media and would embarrass the party (about the infighting)” Moitra said. .
“Who has called these” du poisar press “(two paisa media) on the inside? Remove these elements from the place. Some of our party members invite these people to closed-door meetings to see their faces on television. This is not done ”, the legislator is heard saying in a video that has had wide circulation online.
Ms Moitra clarified that the incident took place at a Trinamool Congress meeting to decide on a stand committee.
A dispute broke out between a former cabin committee chairman and the man who had replaced him.
“I have a simple rule: in booth committee meetings, mobile phones are not allowed … I saw one or two local interlocutors with mobile phones recording the fight,” he said.
She said that one of the disputed leaders brought the two journalists and was upset because “I knew they would record (the fight) and put it on social media and my party would be roasted (about the infighting). So I told them to My workers, why do these ‘two paisa press’, that is, these guys with mobile phones understand, why do they want their faces on television? They come in and we talk. A guy recorded it, “said the MP, assuring that she made the comments to party workers, not the media.
“By the time I came out, the real press, those who had microphones, had found out. They asked me what happened. I said that it is a democratic party, so people were agitated. So they asked, why did they call the press? ‘Dos paisa “I said no, I didn’t say anything. He said ‘your people attacked the press.’ In the fray, two or three stringers must have been pushed as well. I said I didn’t attack anyone and left,” said Ms. Moitra.
The Kolkata Press Club, in a statement, said Ms Moitra should withdraw her comments and apologize.
“His statement is undoubtedly unjustified and humiliating since in a democracy the importance of the journalist and respect for his profession is universally recognized,” the statement said.
“The struggle and struggle of a journalist for his profession and his social responsibility is known to all. No one has the right to insult a journalist, we condemn the
MP’s comment and expresses hope that he will withdraw it
immediately and offer his apologies, “he said.
Ms Moitra posted a tweet that did not mitigate the criticism.
My meme editing skills are improving! pic.twitter.com/PyO69avwRi
– Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) December 7, 2020
Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee told reporters: “We have to ask ourselves what exactly he said … but we believe in maintaining cordial ties with the media, regardless of what they report on us.”
Ms. Moitra said that she would not apologize for something she said to her own party workers and not to the press.
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