Sexual harassment: Why #MeToo storm before Lok Sabha polls, asks M J Akbar

Sexual harassment: Why #MeToo storm before Lok Sabha polls, asks M J Akbar Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have decided to back Akbar despite RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale coming out in support of the #MeToo movement

Union minister M J Akbar , facing charges of sexual harassment that go back to his time as newspaper editor, has not only refused to step down but insinuated that the approaching Lok Sabha elections had a bearing on the allegations.

Speaking on Sunday after his return from his official visit abroad, he said he would take legal action against the women who had alleged sexual harassment by him.

Akbar’s holding out, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, stemmed from the seeming support he received from the party leadership. However, the sources also said Akbar was likely to be dropped as minister.

Though there is little political cost to the BJP if Akbar goes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a track record since his time as chief minister of Gujarat of backing his ministers even when they have faced criminal charges and have been chargesheeted. For the time, Akbar has been given an opportunity to defend himself, party sources said.

Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have decided to back Akbar despite Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale coming out in support of the #MeToo movement. Party sources said support to Akbar had yet again underlined that Modi and Shah thought little of the mainstream English language media and did not want to be seen to have succumbed to pressure mounted by it.

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