New Delhi: Under severe pressure after being accused of sexual harassment by several women, minister of state for external affairs M.J. Akbar resigned Wednesday evening, a day ahead of the first hearing of the defamation case filed by him in a Delhi court.
There was also growing discomfiture within the BJP that the allegations against Mr Akbar and his continuation as a minister could have an adverse electoral fallout, especially in urban areas.
Also, if a sitting Union minister appeared in court to fend off allegations of sexual harassment, it could have proved even more embarrassing for the government and the BJP.
Journalist Priya Ramani, who was one of those who levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Akbar and against whom Mr Akbar filed a defamation suit, said she felt “vindicated” by the resignation.
Mr Akbar is the first minister in the Union government to resign after the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment of women gathered steam in India. He had initially refused to quit on Sunday.
Several women journalists, including Ghazala Wahab, Priya Ramani, Shutapa Paul and Shuma Raha, had made allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Akbar. Pressure mounted on Mr Akbar to resign after as many as 20 women journalists signed a petition speaking of the “culture of casual misogyny, entitlement and sexual predation” that Mr Akbar had “engendered and presided over”.
