Angry reactions in Assam over Mahua Moitra’s tweet connecting “Mr Gogoi” to sexual harassment

Even before the fire ignited by the Goddess Kaali controversy settled down, Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Mohua Moitra has found herself caught in yet another storm, and this time it is about her tweet on certain “Mr Gogoi”. Her tweet thread connecting “Mr Gogoi” with sexual harassment has received a string of angry comments, primarily from Assamese community. Gogoi is a very common surname in Assam.  

But why was Moitra tweeting about Mr Gogoi and connecting him to sexual harassment? She was taking a dig at the Lok Sabha secretariat’s alleged decision to ban certain words from parliamentary discourse.

On July 13, the Lok Sabha Secretariat released a booklet consisting of words considered “unparliamentary” such as jumlajeevi, baal buddhi, ashamed, corrupt, and abused. This soon sparked a heated debate as opposition leaders, including senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took turns to criticise the decision calling the “gag order” an assault on parliamentary democracy. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla later clarified that no word had been banned in Lok Sabha. The booklet only mentioned words expunged in the past.

Joining the debate, Moitra tweeted: “My first of new twitter series on replacements for unparliamentary words. Banned word-Sexual Harassment. Replacement - Mr. Gogoi.” Although Moitra did identify who Mr Gogoi was, her tweet has outraged the people of Assam for linking the surname to a sexual crime.

National award-winning film critic and filmmaker Utpal Borpujari, while tagging Moitra’s tweet, wrote: “Who is this ‘Mr Gogoi’? Please give the complete name if you have a specific person in mind. Else, it's a slur on all the Gogois. (Yes, the list of 'unparliamentary' words is ridiculous, but that can be opposed without being equally ridiculous).”

 

Many others also slammed the West Bengal MP on social media. Journalist Kabir Firaque tweeted: “In Assam, your next-door neighbour, or your best friend, or your child’s teacher, or perhaps all of them could be called Mr Gogoi. This tweet abuses every man who used this common surname. Please delete it.”

 

Bhaskar Gogoi, a Dibrugarh based doctor, warned Moitra of legal action. “I’m a Gogoi. How dare you insult our Ahom community. Do you mean all of us are sexual predators. Get ready to be sued.”

It may be mentioned that last year on February 9, in a speech during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Moitra raised the matter of an allegation of sexual harassment against former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. Her comments were later expunged from Parliament’s records.