Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has filed a defamation case against Zee News anchor Sudhir Choudhary in response to his allegation that Moitra’s speech before the Parliament was plagiarised.
Moitra had made a passionate speech before the parliament on June 25, 2019 about the signs of fascism. It was inspired by a poster on the subject and Moitra had attributed it to the correct source. However, Zee News anchor Sudhir Choudhary alleged on national television that Moitra had plagiarised her speech from a piece by American commentator Martin Longman.
Interestingly, shortly after the controversy broke out, Longman had himself defended Moitra and rubbished the plagiarism allegation in a tweet saying, “I’m internet famous in India because a politician is being falsely accused of plagiarizing me. It’s kind of funny, but right-wing aXXXXXXs seem to be similar in every country.”
In a statement released on Monday, Moitra said, “In this day and age of 2487 news channels, without proper fact-checking, and spring boarding of such broadcasts, in the minds of the general public, it is all the more important that individuals who make statements that are false to their knowledge, be brought to book.”
Moitra’s entire statement may be read here:
