New Delhi: Suspense over M J Akbar’s position in the government continued today after reports suggested that the Minister of State for External Affairs, who is facing several #MeToo allegations, had quit his post by emailing his resignation to the Prime Minister’s Office. However, the government has clarified that there was ‘no resignation yet’ and that the journalist-turned-politician continued to remain in office, reported a news channel.
Ever since the first accusation of sexual harassment against Akbar was brought to the fore on 8 October, critics and opposition parties have been demanding his ouster from the government.
Akbar returned to New Delhi on Sunday after completing his official trip to Nigeria. Shortly after his arrival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting where he is said to have discussed the matter with senior government officials, sources said. The Prime Minister’s office was yet to receive the resignation, sources said, while officials at MJ Akbar’s office remained tight-lipped regarding the developments.
Reportedly, Akbar had also sought a meeting with Modi and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, however, the Prime Minister was unlikely to meet Akbar.
Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah has said that he was not in a position to comment on MJ Akbar.
“It’s difficult to comment on something that comes on a website. One can put anything on a website. So, this needs to be checked. If that is true or false, whether such an incident happened or not,” Amit Shah said in an interview.
“It will have to be seen if it is the same person who is levelling allegations or someone else has put it up (on social media). All these things will have to be seen. And once we do it, we will certainly think over it (the action against Akbar),” he added.
More than half a dozen women journalists have accused Akbar of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour at various stages of his journalistic career, during which he launched and edited several newspapers.
On Friday, US-based journalist Majlie de Puy Kamp told online news portal HuffPost India that Akbar forcibly kissed her on the last day of her internship at The Asian Age office in 2007.
Earlier this week, FORCE magazine Executive Editor Ghazala Wahab, in an article on a news portal, wrote an account of her “harrowing experience” with Akbar. Former Mint Lounge Editor Priya Ramani, who wrote about a predatory “celebrity editor” without naming anyone in a piece last year, on Monday publicly identified Akbar as the central character of her piece.
I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predator – maybe they’ll share, she said.
Journalist Shutapa Paul recalled in a series of tweets on Wednesday that as the India Today editor, whenever Akbar came to Kolkata, he would invite her to his hotel, usually after 8 PM. He would then drink alcohol and ask her to also do so. Other female journalists who have levelled allegations against Akbar include Prerna Singh Bindra, Sujata Anandan, Shuma Raha, Harinder Baweja and Anju Bharti.