Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday said the Nadia district administration had directed her to vacate the circuit house in Krishnanagar late at night, hours after she had checked in.

Moitra, the Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar said she reached the circuit house around 6.30 pm and was given the same room she usually stays in.

“Dinner was served to me in room at 9.20 pm,” she said in a social media post. “I received call at 9.47 asking me to vacate. Now at 10.52 I receive this message with this ‘order’! Outside the gates are huge crowd shouting Jai Shri Ram!”

She shared an order dated August 12 issued by the deputy collector of Nadia, stating that the circuit house would be unavailable from the evening of Friday until further orders for “annual maintenance” and cleaning. The order said reservations confirmed before Thursday would be exempt from the directive.

The Nadia district administration has not yet commented on the matter.

In a video message, Moitra said she would not vacate the circuit house, claiming that as an elected MP from the district she was entitled to stay there.

“The Supreme Court asked me to face bullets, so here I am…not backing down,” she said.

She was referring to the August 7 order of the Supreme Court in which it refused to entertain Moitra’s petition seeking permission to appear virtually before the police in a case about purportedly provocative remarks she had made in July.

She had raised concern about her safety following the July 1 incident during which vegetables and eggs were hurled at a TMC office in West Bengal’s Krishnanagar while Moitra was inside. She alleged that “goons” from the Bharatiya Janata Party were responsible.

Later, Moitra had said in a social media post that she would file a police complaint against persons responsible for the incident. In a video, she had said that those wanting to throw eggs at her “should wear a burqa” if they wish to stay hidden.

A BJP leader, Hirak Bhattacharya, had filed a complaint against Moitra, alleging that her comment had hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community. Following the complaint a first information report was registered at the Hogalbaria police station in Nadia district in June.

On July 21, the Calcutta High Court granted Moitra interim protection from arrest until October 5. The court, however, directed her to appear before the investigating officer on Friday.

“The Calcutta High Court had told me that the district administration would provide me protection,” Moitra said in a video on social media on Friday. “…And yet it is the same authority that’s ordering me to move out and harass me.”

After Moitra’s posts, Opposition leaders raised concerns about her safety. Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said it was concerning that a woman MP was being asked to leave a government property in the middle of the night, The Hindu

Congress leader Pawan Khera also urged the West Bengal government and the Centre to ensure Moitra’s safety, the newspaper reported.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

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