'PM Modi Enters Like Gladiator': TMC's Mahua Moitra Says BJP Turned Parliament Into Rome's Colosseum

Mahua Moitra said as a lady parliamentarian she might want to "chant some names that truly deserve applause" both in this House and in the annals of the civil aviation history of India.

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress minister Mahua Moitra on Tuesday slammed the BJP government saying the government has turned Parliament into Rome's Colosseum where Prime Minister Narendra Modi enters "like a gladiator" to the chants of 'Modi, Modi', an obvious reference to the rousing welcome he got from the ruling party members in the House after the triumph in four state elections.

Taking part in the discussion in Lok Sabha on the demands for grants for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 2022-23, Moitra additionally recorded the names of women who have scratched their names in the annals of Indian civil aviation history, saying they are the ones who “truly deserve” applause.

The firebrand TMC leader referred to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's comments in Parliament in 1972 when he said, "These days the atmosphere in New Delhi makes one choke. It is not easy to breathe freely. The chanting of a prime minister’s name on All India Radio from morning to night, saturated propaganda on cinema screens, how can people sitting in the Opposition fight this.” Moitra said, “It is India’s greatest tragedy perhaps that the very party Vajpayee ji 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.” “And sadly those entrusted with the decorum of this house – the ‘Garima’ as they like to put it – smile smugly through it all,” she added.

Her comments came in an evident reference to Prime Minister Modi being invited by thumping of desks and reciting of his name by the BJP individuals in Lok Sabha when the budget session continued and the House met for the first time after the saffron party’s victory in four states.

Moitra said as a lady parliamentarian she might want to "chant some names that truly deserve applause" both in this House and in the annals of the civil aviation history of India.

She proceeded to list the first Indian woman to get a pilot's permit Urmila Parekh, first lady commercial pilot Prem Mathur, first lady pilot of Indian carriers Durba Banerjee, the first lady IAF official to fly in a battle zone Gunjan Saxena, captain of the first Boeing having all-women flight crew Saudamini Deshmukh and youngest pilot in civil aviation history to command a commercial jet aircraft Nivedita Bhasin.

(With PTI inputs)