One of India’s most recognised and most widely talked about first-time MPs, whose three speeches in just 16 months have taken the country by storm and gone viral on social media, has spoken for the first time about the person behind the politician in a 32-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire.Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress’s Krishnanagar Lok Sabha MP, speaks of the response from Prime Minister Modi and other BJP MPs to her speeches and how she prepares for them. In the process Mahua Moitra has revealed that she always wanted to be a politician. Political ambition was part of her from a very young age.Moitra reveals why she joined Congress before switching to Trinamool. At the time, hers was a Congress supporting family. But it was her determination to work at the grassroots that encouraged her to switch to Trinamool.She says she first met Mamata Banerjee on a flight and was completely taken by her charm. If that chance encounter had not happened it’s hard to say how Moitra’s political career would have developed.Moitra says she has no problem relating with her rural constituency in Bengal.Before becoming a politician Mahua worked for over a decade as an investment banker with JP Morgan in New York and London. It was hard work but it was also well rewarded. In her 20s at the time, she says she had “a ball”.In The Wire interview Mahua talks of her childhood as the daughter of a tea planter in Darjeeling. She speaks of how her parents brought her up and how much of her education happened because her mother personally took charge and taught her.Later, Mahua got a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. As she explains in the interview, it was inevitable that thereafter she would become a banker.In The Wire interview Mahua talks about the cases she has brought to the Supreme Court in her personal capacity and which she has paid for herself. She explains that she believes it’s important that issues that concern matters of justice must be pursued and if it can’t be done in Parliament then she is happy to do it through the Courts.Mahua also talks about her cooking, which is a passion but also a relaxation. She’s fond of Italian cooking and particularly proud of her brownies.Find the full interview here.