Who needs MJ Akbar's resignation?
As expected MJ Akbar has refuted all allegations against him and said he will not resign from his post of union minister. For the moment even Congress is set aside the Rafael scandal and is hell bent upon seeking Akbar's resignation. One cannot rule of the chances of Modi seeking Akbar's resignation to indicate that he cares for the women of India. MJ Akbar is not great asset to BJP. He does not even represent the party with its full values and ideals. He has always been an opportunist who has remained in power since a long time across governments. He has used the same strategy to bag a plum position in BJP trading whatever little loyalty he can claim to have. He has nothing to lose except for that post.
As for BJP, they won't lose much if they lose him. In fact it may even help their poll image if he goes or they drop him. Instead, it may even help BJP's image. What remains to be seen now is whether a party that has a history of assaulting women would even come forward to get Akbar's resignation. Hence Akbar gets away with very sweeping allegation of a political motivated conspiracy being mounted against him. If this was a one off incident with only one woman accusing Akbar of sexual misconduct, no one would have taken it seriously. but along with Priya Ramani there are at least more than 10 women who have made similar charges against Akbar of sexual harassment. all of them are well educated and occupy most dignified positions in the society. There could be limitations to elevations against Akbar.
As in some of the harassment may be a physical and most of it may be psychological too. These allegations sure cast a shadow on akbar personality. The onus of proving his character lies on Akbar now. With this, he can prove that is not like other politicians. If the writer inside him does not feel compelled to resign, or if he is not experiencing any internal conflict, it means Akbar has lost all his sensibilities. At the press conference on sunday, that is exactly what he declared that the writer inside him has died.
Through the #metoo movement Akbar has already been informally penalised. Metoo movement is a very sensitive one at the moment. It rests on the basis of sensibilities. To prove the allegations is going to be a big challenge because the incidents happened in the past and there is probably no supporting evidence to this. more than anything else the victims of these incidents have hardly complained to their higher ups on this matter. There are no corresponding witnesses. People who made this allegations maybe forced to stand in the court of law as culprits. maybe forced to pay compensation for defaming Akbar.If the opposition party sits on a dharna against Akbar, all these risks exist. Because there is a huge gang of people that sits on vantage positions within this government, who have treated women badly.
Has Prime Minister Modi acted against them? If Akbar has to resign, Modi will have to go first because he is facing allegations of spying a woman using state machinery. When such a person is the PM of the nation, how can we expect Akbar to face the fact and resign? There are so many people sitting inside the government that should have resigned by now. Economy is being destroyed and border security is being compromised. Mob lynching and fake gau rakshaks are increasing. Home minister has to resign taking that responsibility. More than anything else, Modi has to resign for having compromised on national security over Rafale deal, to please his friend. Let's not lose focus of the fact that MJ Akbar's resignation may well be a very small compensation for all this.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Australia 67/7 at stumps in reply to India's 150 on Day 1 of first Test
Perth, Nov 22: Australia suffered a stunning batting collapse as they managed 67 for 7 at stumps in reply to India's 150 in the first innings on Day 1 of the first Test here on Friday.
India, who were all out for 150 from 49.4 overs at the stroke of tea, grabbed seven Australian wickets in 27 overs in the final session of the day.
Alex Carey (19 batting) and Mitchell Starc (6 batting) were at the crease at stumps, as Australia trail by 83 runs. Seventeen wickets fell on the day on a lively pitch at the Perth Stadium.
Australia's abject surrender could be seen from the fact that Carey was their highest scorer while Travis Head and debutant Nathan McSweeney made 11 and 10 respectively. All the other Australian batters could not reach double-digit figures.
For India, captain Jasprit Bumrah (4/17) was the pick of the bowlers while Mohammed Siraj (2/17) and debutant Harshit Rana (1/33) also chipped in.
Earlier, electing to bat, India lost six wickets in the second session to be all out for 150.
Debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scored with 41 off 59 balls while Rishabh Pant chipped in with 37. Opene KL Rahul got out to a controversial caught behind decision just before lunch after scoring 26 off 74 balls.
For Australia, Josh Hazlewood (4/29), Mitchell Starc (2/14), Mitchell Marsh (2/12) and captain Pat Cummins (2/67) were the wicket-takers.
Brief Scores:
India: 150 all out in 49.4 overs (KL Rahul 26, Rishabh Pant 37, Nitish Kumar Reddy 41; Josh Hazlewood 4/29).
Australia: 67 for 7 in 27 overs (Alex Carey batting 19; Jasprit Bumrah 4/17).
