Pat For Privacy

Trinamool Congress legislator Mahua Moitra has been on the warpath to protect the privacy of the common man. The Aadhaar case was her baby, too

- Rabi Banerjee

IN 2008, WHEN Mahua Moitra left her job in London as vice president of JP Morgan, the only thing on her mind was to serve her country. She chose electoral politics as her path. The Trinamool Congress legislator, who had declared assets worth around 2.5 crore, is now serving Karimpur, one of the poorest constituencies in West Bengal.

Last month, a video of Moitra fighting with a female constable at Silchar airport in Assam went viral on social media. She was there as part of an eight-member TMC delegation to protest the misuse of the national register of citizens. When reminded about that episode, Moitra said, “They were physically restraining me without an arrest warrant.” She is ready to take up a fight for a cause, and now her biggest fight is for the protection of privacy rights.

On October 31, 2017, Moitra filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the directive issued by banks that made linking Aadhaar with bank accounts mandatory. “Banks have no business doing that,” said Moitra. Her petition was clubbed with the original petition filed five years ago by retired High Court judge K.S. Puttaswamy against making Aadhaar mandatory for availing government services.