‘Idiots Don’t Understand Idioms’: Mahua Moitra Fires Back at BJP Over Amit Shah Remark Row
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has come out strongly against the ruling BJP following the registration of a case against her in Chhattisgarh over her recent comments about Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in which she allegedly said that “his head should be cut off and put on the table.” Dismissing the controversy as a misunderstanding of figurative language, Moitra asserted, “Idiots don’t understand idioms.”
The Lok Sabha MP’s remarks, made on Friday, sparked a political furore when she accused Amit Shah of failing to prevent the infiltration of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, insisting, “heads will roll” in the aftermath of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Clarifying her statements in a video posted on X, Moitra explained, “‘Heads will roll’ is an idiom for accountability. Similarly, in Bengali, ‘Lojjay Matha Kata Jawa’ means to be so ashamed that you metaphorically cut your own head off—it’s about taking responsibility, not inciting violence.”
Moitra criticized the Chhattisgarh police for registering an FIR against her and questioned their treatment of migrant Bengali workers, claiming, “A false FIR was filed against the workers. They were beaten up, not produced before court, kept detained, and released on July 14.” Employing another idiom, she quipped, “With tail between your legs, with a slap on your face, Kondagaon SP Y Akshay Kumar withdrew his FIR.” She argued that the translation of her words for the FIR was flawed and misleading: “This is what happens when you use Google Translate to translate words from Bengali to English and English to Hindi to file fake FIRs.”
Moitra defended her criticism of Amit Shah, stating that border security lies with the Home Ministry and that the BJP cannot pin the blame for cross-border infiltration on the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal. The issue remains politically charged, with both Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly accusing the TMC government of enabling infiltration from Bangladesh—a claim the TMC strongly refutes.
