#MeToo, Prime Minister @narendramodi

Muhammed Salih
The #MeToo movement has started knocking on the doors of the Narendra Modi government with at least
two senior journalists alleging that Minister of State for External Affairs, MJ Akbar made inappropriate
advances against them. Detailed accounts of him violating consent and conducting uncomfortable
interviews with female journalists have now come out.
Journalist Priya Ramani, in October last year wrote an article in the Vogue India magazine titled “To the
Harvey Weinsteins of the World” (https://www.vogue.in/content/harvey-weinsteins-open-letter-sexual-
harassment) in which she calls out her boss. At the time the article was published, no names were called
out but as the #MeToo movement started gaining momentum in India with Tanushree Dutta coming out
against veteran actor, Nana Patekar and women calling out AIB comic Utsav Chakraborty for sending
sexually explicit messages, women all around the country have come out with their own experiences with
the male species. On October 8th, Priya Ramani named her then-boss, MJ Akbar in a tweet and attached
the article with it.
Since then many women journalists have come out with their experiences with MJ Akbar, who can now,
without remorse be addressed as a predator. Twitter is now flooding with tweets from journalists who’ve
had sickening experiences with the Minister, who apparently had one move with every woman he met,
“Conduct interviews in hotel rooms, offer women his bed and alcoholic drinks.” MJ Akbar might just be
the Harvey Weinstein of the Narendra Modi government. When this many women come forward with
their experiences, the same experiences, it’s hard to overlook the issue at hand.
After the tweet went viral, another journalist Rohini Singh went a step further and alleged that a ‘top
cabinet’ minister of inappropriate behavior conduct towards women. “Not just MJ Akbar. A top cabinet
minister indulges in such inappropriate talk about clothes women journalists wear. But he won’t be outed
for obvious reasons!” wrote Rohini Singh on Twitter. Misconduct against women have always been
considered a very natural process in India, it’s about time people in power realize that no one can escape
the truth.
Allegations of inappropriate sexual advances by men in the Indian newsrooms is now piling up. The
Network of Women in Media (NWMI) has put out a statement saying that they are in absolute solidarity
with the women who have come out and shared their experiences. The NWMI has also raised eight
demands which include that all media organizations and journalism colleges ensure that the anti-sexual
harassment policy and the constitution of the Internal Committee are widely circulated.
“The #MeToo movement started a little over a decade ago but it's only starting to gain momentum in
India. It's scary to imagine that so many actors and others that we respected and loved have hurt women
and put them through so much emotional strain, yet gone on to become more famous anyway.” says
Karthika Venugopal, student of SOC and a journalist.
With the #MeToo movement still gaining momentum, we are still yet to see how many of the officials in
the Modi government and how many of the so-called celebrities will come under scrutiny. It’s about time.
Dear India, don’t be like America and give predators power. We’re better than them.