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.
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Speaker rules out discussion on Guv''s conduct amid K''taka Assembly standoff
Bengaluru (PTI): In an effort to end the logjam over the Governor's address that has stalled proceedings for the past week, Karnataka Assembly Speaker U T Khader on Wednesday ruled that legislators should not discuss Thaawarchand Gehlot or his conduct in the house, saying such debates send the wrong message to the public.
The House has witnessed repeated disruptions and adjournments since the session began on January 22 over the issue of the governor's conduct.
During his address to the joint sitting of the Karnataka legislature on January 22, Gehlot read out only three sentences from the 122-paragraph speech prepared by the state government.
The speech included criticism of the Centre for replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajivika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), portions of which the governor declined to read.
Concluding his address in about two minutes, the governor left the house, triggering a commotion as Congress legislators attempted to gherao him and raised slogans.
While the opposition BJP accused the ruling Congress and its ministers of "insulting" the governor and demanded action, the treasury benches countered by claiming the governor had "insulted the National Anthem by leaving before it was played."
The house again witnessed heated arguments on the issue earlier in the day, leading to adjournment.
During the interruption, Khader held a meeting with ministers and opposition members to resolve the impasse.
When proceedings resumed, the speaker delivered his ruling.
Referring to the events of January 22 and the subsequent debate, Khader said the conduct and discussions had conveyed the wrong message to the public.
"Our conduct as members of this House and the opinions expressed must be in good taste and in accordance with constitutional provisions. They must uphold the dignity of the House and its members. We must introspect in this direction," he said.
He stressed the need for caution to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future.
"Let us end this matter here, continue the discussion on the motion of thanks to the governor, and refrain from discussing the governor or his conduct in this house," the speaker said.
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said the house should express regret over what he termed an "insult" to the governor.
Responding, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the situation would not have arisen had the governor read out the entire address.
"Asking the house to express regret is not appropriate. Why did the governor leave even before the National Anthem was played," Siddaramaiah asked.
BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar reminded Siddaramaiah that as Leader of the Opposition in 2011, he had asked then Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj to curtail his address.
Bhardwaj had subsequently placed the address on the table of the house, requesting members to treat it as read.
Siddaramaiah said the situation in January 2011 was different from the present one.
The debate grew intense, leading to another adjournment of the house.
