Don’t just make accusations, prove them!
The Minister of State for External Affairs, M.J. Akbar, dismissed the long string of charges of
sexual harassment made against him by former women colleagues as a tissue of
lies. Akbar’s basic theme: with
elections round the corner, these charges are motivated.
Not every one of the dozen or so women have claimed they were physically
assaulted, the overall picture they have painted is that of a systematic
pattern of sexual harassment. Their stories range from suggestiveness and
innuendo to outright molestation.
Ghazala Wahab, now executive editor at FORCE magazine, has written of
repeated molestation at his hands in the mid-1990s when he was her editor at
Asian Age. Majlie de Puy Kamp, now a New York-based reporter, has spoken of how
a decade later he forcibly kissed her, when she was 18 and interning with him.
But how can BJP start a precedent of sacking a minister merely on the
basis of #MeToo allegations, when a snooper highly vulnerable to #MeToo is
sitting at top? It is clear
that none of the accusers can produce any proof for the kind of behaviour he
has been alleged to have exhibited during his journalistic days. Is it the case that all accusing women are
holy angels who could never lie?
Nobody should resign on the basis of mere allegations. MJ Akbar has done
the right thing by standing his ground and taking legal action against those
who have made scurrilous comments against him. The allegationa are yet to be
proven true, before any evident point we should not come to conclusion and
straight away ask for resignation
Did anyone write to the PM? Also MJ Akbar a turncoat did not join BJP
yesterday. Why then the complainants did not raise the issue as soon as he joined
BJP or even when he was made a minister. The complainants must explain the delay in their allegations to make
their complaints more of substance.
The media is too harsh on Modi for several reasons. Firstly, the BJP
President has already announced that the issue was being investigated. No
action can be taken without even a prima facie evidence. How can the PM take
any action without even giving an opportunity for MJ Akbar to state his
position?
The whole exercise seems to be unfair to Modi rather than accord due
seriousness to a shameful issue brought against a tall journalist who happens
to be a Minister now. If Khushwant Singh were to be alive, what could be his
reaction to ME TOO?
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