Mahua Moitra’s nuptial news surprises followers, as colleagues send best wishes

Mahua Moitra, the Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar, has reportedly tied the knot with Pinaki Misra, a senior advocate and former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Puri, in a private ceremony on 3 May — and kept it quiet for over a month.

The wedding was kept a private affair, with neither Moitra nor Misra making public announcements. However, a photograph published by The Telegraph (online) shows the couple all smiles, together in Germany, with Moitra adorned in gold jewellery and a laal-paar saree (the red-bordered garment is the hallmark of married women in Bengal, especially Hindus).

Some of the attention their union has garnered is certainly due to their different political affiliations and past controversies dredged up by political opponents around the TMC MP’s personal life.

Misra, who served as a BJD MP until June 2024, has previously represented Moitra in legal matters, including her plea to retain government accommodation following her expulsion from the Lok Sabha in December 2023. The BJP had seen fit to question their ‘close relationship’ during the 'cash for query' controversy.

That might be one reason for the discreet nature of their wedding, some speculate, even as a section of the media found it apt to mock the couple's preference for privacy by calling it ‘another Operation Sindoor’ — which rather suggests a need for ‘strategic secrecy’.

For the more supportive and admiring members of the public — and the young, fierce and outspoken firebrand female leader, known for her sharp speeches and no-holds-barred political commentary, has quite a fan following — the interest is more simple curiosity.

So here is what we know so far:

A quiet remarriage, after a history of keeping her personal life private

Moitra had previously been married to Lars Brorson, a Danish financier. The two eventually divorced. In the case of her earlier marriage too (and subsequent separation), the politician preferred to keep the details largely private.

Her new marriage is, as such, hardly an instance of serial matrimony. Among the admiration Moitra has garnered especially among Indian women has been for her unapologetic and uncompromising attitude in her personal life, where many a politician thinks twice about appearing ‘progressive’ — even in the 21st century. Moitra, however, while dignified and private with details, has made no secret of having enjoyed romantic partnerships without a plan to marry.

Indeed, it was her former relationship with advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for nearly three years that drew opportunistic critics’ scurrilous interest — and misogynistic jokes and ribald comments galore — when it came into the public eye in late 2023 during the cash-for-query controversy. Among those making a point of it was Dehadrai himself, as the central character in the drama, submitting material that led to Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha. Moitra later referred to him as a “jilted ex”, framing the episode as being both politically and personally motivated.

Dehadrai and his cohort also made a point of making suggestive remarks around Moitra's relationship with industrialist Darshan Hiranandani.

It should not be surprising that the patriarchal framing of Moitra’s character in the whole sordid drama likely got her more support from women with ‘a past’ (as sanskari conservatives would put it) who may have known all too well the viciousness of an ex-partner (or a current one), and the lack of social support — or indeed, the virtual ostracisation — of those facing abuse from a non-marital partner, current or past.

Of course, for much the same reasons, Moitra herself does not jibe readily with patriarchal values — very much a mutual sentiment, given she also ruffles feathers every so often by speaking up for minorities and the disprivileged, be it her own Bengali Hindu community or Muslims.

And now, who is Pinaki Misra, the bridegroom?

The St Stephen’s alumnus, now 65 years old, hails from Cuttack, Odisha. Before obtaining his law degree from Delhi University, he graduated in history.

Misra began his political career as a Congress man, having contested — and won — the Puri Lok Sabha seat in 1996 on the grand old party’s ticket. He then switched over to the BJD and won elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.

Misra’s political CV includes positions on several key parliamentary panels as well during his tenure as an MP — including the Standing Committee on Finance, the Business Advisory Committee, the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence, the Standing Committee on Civil Aviation, and the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

He is currently a senior advocate at the Supreme Court.

Like his new spouse, Misra too has been married before and has a son and a daughter from his previous marriage to Sangita Misra.

Congratulatory messages from colleagues

Colleagues were foremost to preemptively close ranks around the newlyweds, even as the social media gossipmongers’ taunts begin — among them are two actor-politicians: TMC MP June Maliah and West Bengal state president of the Trinamool Youth Congress Saayoni Ghosh.

As for the detractors, they have thus far found fodder in such weak matter as a 15-year age gap and the fact that Misra sued Dehadrai for defamation.