Opinion: Mahua Moitra, Louis Vuitton, And A Bagful Of Questions

During last year’s monsoon session of parliament, opposition members were trying to corner the Modi government during a debate on rising prices. The thrust of their argument was that circumstances had made survival difficult for a common citizen as the household budget had gone awry.

When Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar rose to speak, the Sansad TV camera focused on her. Seated next to her was her party colleague Mahua Moitra. Moitra perhaps realised that the live broadcast on the sensitive topic was also catching her super expensive Louis Vuitton handbag. The next second, she was seen shifting the bag to the floor, away from the camera. That clip went viral.

The bag cost ₹ 1.60 lakh. These are personal choices, depending on what one can afford. In this case, we are talking about a Member of parliament. Moitra’s profile says she has been an investment banker, so it was naturally assumed that she had that kind of purchasing power.