Krishnanagar, Aug. 15: Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar Mahua Moitra has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s intervention after she was allegedly asked to vacate the Nadia district circuit house in Krishnanagar late on Friday night, while a crowd gathered outside the premises raising “Jai Shri Ram” slogan verbally abusing her.
Calling the episode a violation of her parliamentary rights and a threat to her safety, Moitra has also decided to move a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha.
“I have informed the Speaker and decided to bring a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha on Monday, while at the same time also contemplating submitting a petition before a court of law,” Moitra told The NfN.
The Nadia district administration, however, rejected the allegation that the MP had been ordered to vacate the circuit house, saying she had only been asked to relocate to alternative accommodation because of ongoing maintenance work and water-supply problems. According to the administration, all bookings made after August 13 had been cancelled as maintenance was scheduled to begin from August 14. Officials said Moitra had been informed of the issue but declined to move.
The controversy erupted hours after Moitra returned to her constituency following the adjournment sine die of the Lok Sabha on Thursday. On Friday, she appeared before the Hogolberia police station as per Supreme court directive in connection with a probe into a complaint over an alleged hate speech on social media, following a Supreme Court direction.
She reached the Krishnanagar circuit house at around 6.30pm and entered the room she usually occupies during visits to the district headquarters. She claimed to have been served tea and later dinner in her room, with no indication from the staff that there was any problem with her stay.
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According to Moitra, the situation changed abruptly at around 9.47pm when she received a call from the Additional District Magistrate asking her to “vacate” the room. At around 10.52pm, she said, she received a written communication that she described as an “order” to vacate.
“I entered Circuit House at 18:30 hrs and was given the same room I always stay in. Dinner was served to me in my room at 9:20 pm. I received a call at 9:47 asking me to vacate. Now at 10:52 I receive this message with this ‘order’!! Outside the gates are a huge crowd shouting Jai Shri Ram,” she posted on X.
Tagging Birla, she wrote: “I am an elected MP till 2029. Lok Sabha ended yesterday and I am staying the night in Circuit House Krishnanagar, official accommodation for all MPs. Just received call from local administration asking me to vacate and leave! Told them NO WAY!”
In another post, she appealed to opposition parties to take note of the incident, alleging that the administration was “desperate to keep us out of area”. In a video posted subsequently, Moitra claimed that the Additional District Magistrate had told her that the instruction to vacate had “come from the top”.
“Imagine the audacity!” she said in the video, alleging that while a BJP crowd was “baying for her blood” outside the circuit house, the district administration was trying to force her to leave late at night. She described the episode as a reflection of the state of democracy in India on Independence Day.
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Moitra subsequently wrote to Birla, arguing that the episode raised wider questions about the dignity and security of women parliamentarians. Referring to the 74 women MPs in the Lok Sabha, she said that unless their security and dignity were ensured, the Women’s Reservation Bill would become a “matter of jest”.
“A woman MP, staying alone, being asked to vacate her rightful accommodation at 9.47 pm not only gravely violates her rights, but brings into question the safety and security accorded to women by the ruling dispensation. I kindly request you to urgently look into the matter and take the necessary steps to set an example and ensure the dignity of women parliamentarians across the country,” she wrote.
Moitra also questioned the authority of the district administration to ask a sitting MP to leave government accommodation. Citing a Ministry of Home Affairs order on the Order of Preference, she said an MP ranked at serial 21 was entitled to a high degree of official protocol.
“That is even higher than the Chief Secretary of a state, or a Chief Minister of a Union Territory,” she said, adding that visiting MPs were supposed to be accommodated in circuit houses and could not simply be asked to vacate.
The episode has assumed a sharper political dimension because Moitra remains one of the prominent Trinamool leaders and parliamentarians to have stayed firmly with Mamata Banerjee after the party’s defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections and the BJP’s assumption of power in Bengal under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Moitra also referred to a recent Calcutta High Court direction asking the police to ensure her security. “Unfortunately, it is the same administration that is harassing me like this at night,” she said.
The district administration has offered a sharply different account. A senior official said all circuit house bookings made after August 13 had been cancelled because of scheduled maintenance and water-supply problems.
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“Neither the MP had any booking nor did she inform us about her Thursday’s visit. Rooms at the circuit house are generally allocated based on prior intimation. So there was no immediate police arrangement, which was required as per the High court order. Most importantly, maintenance was going on with certain water-supply problems, for which all new bookings were cancelled,” the official said.
He said the administration had asked Moitra to “relocate” after she arrived but had not attempted to forcibly remove her.
“An official called her for a few seconds when she asked for a written order. He shared it, but the MP shared it interpreting it as her eviction order. Meanwhile, we came to know about the gathering of people outside the circuit house, which was informed to the police and cleared within a few minutes. We repeatedly requested her for relocation, but she unfortunately interpreted it as eviction. None forced her to leave or knocked on her door to vacate instantly. Rather, all hospitality services were provided to her with due respect to her constitutional status. She spent the night at the circuit house under adequate police protection after the gathering was dispersed,” the official said.
Moitra, however, disputed the administration’s account, saying the circuit house was occupied by several government officials and their family members and that none of them had been asked to leave.
“None was asked to leave. Only I was singled out with a vested political motive, creating a situation apparently staged by the police. Else it is hard to believe that at about 11pm unruly people gathered seeking the blood of a woman MP at the main entrance of the circuit house, which is otherwise the safest position in the town, being located just opposite the official bungalows of the district magistrate and superintendent of police. This is unimaginable,” she told The NfN.
The gathering outside the circuit house added another layer to the confrontation. Moitra alleged that BJP supporters had assembled outside while she was inside. A video shared by her showed Raju Rakshit, identified as the BJP’s Krishnanagar Mandal-1 Youth Front leader, addressing the gathering.
“We came after receiving the news that Mahua Moitra has come to the Circuit House. This is our protest against all the ugly comments she has made
about the Hindu religion. She has also defamed the Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country. If she had the courage, she should have arrived in daylight instead of entering the Circuit House secretly at night. Wherever she may go, people of Krishnanagar will not leave her,” Rakshit said.
The incident quickly snowballed into a political confrontation, with Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee accusing the BJP-led government of using the machinery of the state to intimidate a woman MP.
“A woman MP @MahuaMoitra is ordered out of a Circuit House in the middle of the night….You cannot celebrate Nari Shakti on a stage and use the power of the State to intimidate a woman who challenges you. That is not authority. That is insecurity @SuvenduWB,” Banerjee posted on X.
Congress leader Pawan Khera also criticised the incident, saying a “sitting woman MP is being forced to vacate the circuit house in the middle of the night while there is a baying mob waiting for her outside”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too joined the criticism, turning what the administration described as a routine accommodation dispute into a wider political controversy over the treatment and security of an elected woman parliamentarian.