Kalyan Banerjee Escalates War of Words With Mahua Moitra, Calls Her ‘Low Standard’
The public spat between Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra intensified on Saturday, with Banerjee calling his party colleague “low standard” and unworthy of his time.
Speaking to reporters, the four-time MP from Srerampur said, “That lady is not my subject matter at all. She is far below the standard. There is no point talking about her. I even said a few things to Didi (Mamata Banerjee) in anger, but now I regret it.” He added that a message from a junior lawyer made him realise it was a waste of time and energy to engage with her.
The feud erupted after Moitra, in a podcast interview, called Banerjee a “pig” while reacting to his earlier remarks about her personal life, particularly her marriage to BJD MP Pinaki Mishra. “You don’t wrestle with a pig… you get dirty and the pig likes it,” she said, also accusing Indian politics of being dominated by “misogynistic, sexually frustrated, depraved men.”
Banerjee responded on X, calling Moitra’s language “dehumanising” and against the norms of civil discourse. “Name-calling reflects not strength, but insecurity,” he wrote.
Following the exchange, Banerjee resigned as the TMC’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha. His resignation was accepted, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar named the new chief whip and Satabdi Roy appointed deputy leader of the party in the Lower House.
