Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday has come under criticism for refusing to respond on sexual harassment allegations against former journalist and Minister of State MJ Akbar. Akbar has come under the media spotlight following many of his former women colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct on micro-blogging site Twitter in the wake of #MeToo campaign in India.
Swaraj evaded the media, when Smita Sharma of The Tribune posed a question against Akbar asking, “There are serious allegations…these are sexual harassment allegations. You are a woman minister in charge. Will there be a probe on the allegations?”
https://t.co/lVPMeettas Now government faces #MeToo heat.@priyaramani levels serious allegations against MoS @mjakbar who is currently in Abuja. With a woman minister @SushmaSwaraj leading ministry will there be a statement/ response/assurance of probe? @thetribunechd @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/2sPJEtvEB2
— Smita Sharma (@Smita_Sharma) October 9, 2018
In October 2017, when the #MeeToo campaign was started in Hollywood, Priya Ramani had written an article for a famous magazine Vogue India titled, “To the Harvey Weinstein of the world” and narrated her ordeal to the readers about the gut-wrenching incident of sexual misconduct she faced during a job interview with the renowned journalist who had “transformed Indian journalism.”
I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn’t “do” anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predator-maybe they’ll share. #ulti https://t.co/5jVU5WHHo7
— Priya Ramani (@priyaramani) October 8, 2018
The infamous #MeeToo movement first began in 2017 in Hollywood just a few days after The New York Times and The New Yorker published scores of stories about decades-long predation of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
This movement gained momentum in the country after many Bollywood actors and senior women journalists revealed their horrific stories of harassment and leveled an allegation against some powerful personalities working in the film and media industries.