American analyst Martin Longman has dismissed the plagiarism charges levelled against Trinamool Congress lawmaker Mahua Moitra, whose fiery speech in the Parliament on "seven signs of fascism" went viral last week.
Tweets have been doing the rounds alleging that the TMC lawmaker had lifted parts of her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha from Longman's article published in the Washington Monthly in 2017 titled "The 12 early warning signs of fascism", which referred to the US and President Donald Trump.
"I'm internet famous in India because a politician is being falsely accused of plagiarizing me. It's kind of funny, but right-wing as***les seem to be similar in every country," Longman tweeted through an account in his name which has not been verified.
"She (Moitra) didn't steal or plagiarize anything," the writer asserted in response to a question on Twitter.
Longman also said that some people from India were trading "some really fantastic insults" in his twitter threads and he did not know what most of them mean.
"I need an insult translator," he said.
Earlier, the 42-year-old first-time MP from West Bengal's Krishnanagar said the article quoted from the same poster that she had referred to in her speech.
On Thursday, Moitra tried to raise an issue in the Lok Sabha regarding alleged false reportage and personal attacks on her by a TV news channel and its editor, but was not allowed to do so.
Moitra, who is a former investment banker, trended on social media after her speech on June 25 during a debate on the president's address.
"Plagiarism is when one does not disclose one's source. My source as mentioned categorically in my speech was the poster from the Holocaust Museum created by the political scientist Dr. Laurence W. Brit pointing out the 14 signs of early fascism," she earlier said in a statement.
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