The Congress appears to be gloating over an achievement it has had nothing to do with: The resignation of MJ Akbar from the Modi Ministry. The party would like to believe that its shrill attack following allegations of sexual misconduct posted against Akbar by a string of women journalists — incidents that happened years ago when the accused was a leading journalist himself — compelled the embarrassed Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to act. Facts show that it is a case of a party taking credit which is not due to it.
The ‘credit’ for Akbar’s resignation goes largely to the sustained campaign — on mainstream and social media — as well as discomfort among a large segment with the BJP and the NDA regime over the impact of the revelations that more than two dozen women had made against Akbar. True, there had been some initial attempts made by certain BJP leaders to defend Akbar, taking the familiar line of ‘innocent until proven guilty by a court of law’, and questioning the motives of those that had come out against the then Minister. But this was a perceptional battle in which legal niceties don’t work, and where casting aspersions on the alleged victims becomes equivalent to inflicting self-wounds. Soon, women leaders of the party, including Cabinet-rank Ministers, began to speak out in favour of the alleged victims. It was only a matter of time before Akbar was asked to leave.
What makes the Congress’s claim even more spurious is that its leadership had sat over months on an allegation of sexual misconduct levelled against the chief of its student wing, the National Students Union of India. After the Akbar affair erupted, the party’s top brass suddenly swung into action and removed the NSUI accused form his post. The Congress had realised that its demand for Akbar’s scalp would sound ridiculous in its own sordid backdrop, and so it dispensed with the accused. While on the subject, there is also the case of a female employee of the Congress’s media/IT cell, who had accused one of her seniors of sexual harassment. The party had dragged its feet on the matter, and only when the issue gained momentum in the media, did it act, packing off the accused.
When it comes to women’s issues, most parties have displayed a callous conduct. One need not be reminded of the remark that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had made on rapes: ‘That boys will be boys… and should they be hanged for the crime!’ Even leaders of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which is headed by a woman, had abused the wife and daughter of a BJP leader — who had uttered some shocking remarks against Mayawati — in the filthiest language. Years ago, a senior leader of a regional party had ridiculed women who were demanding 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, and called them “par kati” (women with cropped hair, and thus belonging to society’s upper crust!).
The sum total of the story is that no party can take a holier-than-thou attitude. What can be said in the BJP’s favour in the Akbar case is that it has acted not too late. When the allegations surfaced, Akbar was abroad, representing the country at various events. It would have been a diplomatic embarrassment for the country if he had been recalled in the midst of the tour and asked to quit — or if had been sacked forthwith while being abroad. He returned on Sunday, issued a denial and vowed to take the matter to the court. In only a little over 72 hours, he was asked to put in his papers. It can be debated whether the party would have been as prompt had the media furore not been there. But the fact is that Akbar is now out, and there the matter rests as far as the Modi Government goes. He can continue to fight his legal battle as an individual, but at least not as a Union Minister.
In the midst of all these developments, the response of a senior communist leader is amusing, because it demonstrates the desperate level of interpretation the Marxists have reduced themselves to. This senior leader, who is seen more in television studios than among the people, said that the BJP had dispensed with Akbar most willingly because the latter was a Muslim. When asked whether that would also not be the case with the Congress, because the sacked NSUI chief too was a Muslim, he went off on a tangent and said both parties were of the same colour when it came to the Sabarimala issue!In conclusion, the less said about our comrades’ sense of intellect, the better.
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