Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar yesterday dismissed sexual harassment allegations made against him by several women, mostly journalists, and ducked calls for his resignation as the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement gathers pace.
Akbar, a veteran newspaper editor before joining politics, issued a two-page rejoinder in which he said allegations of sexual misconduct when he was a journalist were “without evidence”.
“Allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation,” Akbar said in a statement.
“Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these (claims),” the statement added.
Akbar, who has just returned from a trip to Africa, also vowed to take legal action against the accusers.
While there have been speculations that he may resign upon his arrival, Akbar gave no indication of his stepping down nor was there a word from the government or the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on whether he would continue in the government.
“Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge,” said the 67-year-old Akbar.
Akbar went on to question some of his accusers in the rejoinder.
Journalist Ghazala Wahab wrote a long #MeToo post for online news website The Wire earlier in the week, accusing Akbar of harassment and saying he had “sexually harassed and molested” her.
“This is my story. My last six months as a journalist at Asian Age, the newspaper he edited, were pure hell with repeated physical advances,” she wrote.
Akbar claimed that Wahab’s account was “an effort to damage my reputation.”
“The only office where I worked with her was that of The Asian Age. A part of the editorial team then worked out of a small hall,” it said.
“It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in that vicinity would come to know,” Akbar added.
The minister also questioned the account of journalist Priya Ramani, who was the first to publicly accuse him of inappropriate behaviour.
Akbar said: “Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: ‘Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ anything.’
“If I didn’t do anything, where and what is the story? There’s no story. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didn’t do anything,” he said.
“Shutapa Paul states, ‘the man never laid a hand on me’.
“‘Shuma Raha says, I must clarify, however, that he didn’t actually ‘do’ anything’. One woman, Anju Bharti, went to the absurd extent of claiming I was partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim.”
Earlier this week HuffPost India shared another account by a woman who was allegedly harassed by Akbar while working with him as a teenage intern.
A founding editor of The Telegraph daily and Sunday magazine, Akbar joined politics in 1989 and became a Congress MP.
He joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
A Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, he was inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in July 2016.
While the government has not officially responded, federal minister Ramdas Athawale said Akbar should resign if the allegations against him were true.
“If someone is insulting women, action should be taken against such an individual. If personalities like Akbar are found guilty, action should be taken against them,” Athawale told reporters in Pune while calling for the allegations to be investigated.
The Congress and Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) flayed Akbar for his brazenness.
“Akbar calls the sexual allegations a political conspiracy. It adds insult to injury and humiliation. Let this be a tipping point moment for the #MeToo movement. Don’t be intimidated. This is the time to rise even further. This is the time to fight back, appalled,” Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha twitted.
AAP spokesman Saurabh Bharadwaj said Akbar’s decision not to quit was expected.
“Akbar comes from a party where Kuldeep Singh Sengar is still part of the BJP despite being accused of raping a young girl and getting her father killed,” said Bharadwaj referring to the legislator from Uttar Pradesh, the main accused in the 2017 Unnao gang rape and murder case.
“AAP believes this is purely Modi brand of politics, where all accusations are judged and rejected by the accused itself. The party supports the cause of brave women coming naming and shaming the sexual predators,” he added.
India’s belated #MeToo movement has made headlines over the last few days with women sharing powerful accounts of alleged harassment by several powerful men including a minister, Bollywood filmmakers, news editors and comedians.
On Friday, the production of a Bollywood blockbuster was halted after the film’s lead called for harassment claims against its director and co-star to be “stringently” investigated.
Star Akshay Kumar said he had requested that the making of Housefull 4 be stopped following allegations against director Sajid Khan and actor Nana Patekar.
Accusations that Patekar behaved inappropriately with actress Tanushree Dutta on a film set 10 years ago sparked India’s #MeToo movement.
Three women, an actress, an assistant director and a journalist took to Twitter on Thursday to accuse Khan of sexual harassment.
Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar walks inside his residence in New Delhi yesterday.
