NEW DELHI: Embattled junior minister for external affairs M J Akbar on Sunday refused to step down in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against him, terming them as false, fabricated and deeply distressing.
Questioning their timing, Akbar also threatened legal action against the accusers. “Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill... This is deeply distressing. I will be taking appropriate legal action,” he said.
Akbar was on an official tour to Nigeria when nearly a dozen women, mostly journalists who were his juniors while he was an editor, came out with detailed accounts of his alleged harassment as part of the #MeToo movement.
While the Opposition has been pressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against Akbar, Union minister for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athwale said he should resign if found guilty.
The first accusation against Akbar was made by journalist Priya Ramani on October 8 after which around 10 women shared their horror stories.
Speaking about Ramani, the minister said, “Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago... Asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: ‘Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ anything’... If I didn’t do anything, where and what is the story?”
On Anju Bharti’s allegations, the minister said that absurd claims were made about him partying in a swimming pool. “I do not know how to swim,” he claimed. Refuting Ghazala Wahab’s charges, Akbar said the only office where he worked with her was when his editorial team worked out of a small hall.
“At the time concerned, I had a very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass. Others had tables and chairs two feet away. It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in the vicinity would come to know,” he said.
Ready to take legal route: Vairamuthu
Rejecting allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him by singer Chinmayi, lyricist Vairamuthu released a short video on Sunday claiming he was willing to face legal action. Chinmayi challenged him to take a lie detector test