Akbar won’t quit, calls #MeToo charges ‘wild’

Indian minister plans legal action against the women who have made the accusations

Indian minister M.J. Akbar called the multiple allegations of sexual assault against him “wild and baseless” yesterday, and said he plans to take legal action against the women who have made the accusations.

Akbar, a veteran editor who founded several newspapers and magazines, also dodged calls for his resignation. At least 10 journalists who previously worked as his subordinates have gone public with accounts of having faced inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment from Akbar. “The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice,” said Akbar.

Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections...”

M.J. Akbar | Minister of State for External Affairs

‘How absurd’

Harinder Baweja, one of the women who has accused Akbar, criticised his response.

“All the women who tried to deal with the trauma for two to three decades and were now encouraged to share their pain, had the general election in mind. How absurd,” said Baweja, a senior journalist with the daily Hindustan Times , on Twitter. — Agencies

Born on January 11, 1951 in a Bihari family based in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, Mobashar Jawed Akbar is a veteran Indian editor, author and politician, who is currently the Minister of State for External Affairs, and a Member of Parliament in the Upper House of Rajya Sabha, from Madhya Pradesh.

Akbar first served as an elected Member of Parliament between 1989 and 1991 under the Congress party, and returned to public life in March 2014, when he joined the BJP and was appointed national spokesperson during the 2014 general elections. He was inducted into the Narendra Modi government as a minister in July 2016.

During his long career in journalism, Akbar launched India’s first weekly political news magazine, Sunday, in 1976, and two daily newspapers, The Telegraph and The Asian Age in 1982 and 1994.

He has written several non-fiction books, including a biography of Jawaharlal Nehru, a book on Kashmir, and The Shade of Swords: A History of Jihad.