BJP MPs seek Ethics Committee probe into JNU’s sacked professor Bimol Akoijam

A delegation of women BJP MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday and demanded action against Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, who was recently sacked as a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) amid sexual harassment allegations. After the meeting, BJP MP D Purandeswari said the delegation drew the Speaker's attention to the allegations against Akoijam and urged him to take appropriate action.

"We told the Speaker that the JNU internal committee has held the Congress MP guilty. We urged the Speaker to refer the matter to the Parliament Ethics Committee and also consider whether Akoijam should continue as a Lok Sabha member," Purandeswari told reporters in the Parliament House Complex. "The Speaker assured us that he will look into the matter and also consider if it should be referred to the Ethics Committee," she added. Akoijam, the MP of Inner Manipur who was a professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems under the School of Social Sciences at JNU, was dismissed with immediate effect on October 9 after an inquiry into the sexual harassment allegations against him. He has, however, denied the charges. At least 11 female students complained against Akoijam in May this year.

The complainants alleged that the professor invited students to his campus residence on the pretext of meetings or gatherings and attempted to harass them sexually. Some students alleged that he also made obscene and inappropriate remarks in class. Based on a complaint lodged by the JNU's chief security officer, an FIR was registered against Akoijam on Sunday on charges of sexual harassment and insulting the modesty of a woman. Six BJP MPs, who were part of the delegation that met Speaker Om Birla, later held a press conference at the party headquarters.

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BJP questions silence of Congress leaders

They criticised the Congress leadership for not taking action against Akoijam until now and vowed to fight for justice for the JNU students who "showed courage" in filing a complaint against him. The "studied silence" of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party president Mallikarjun Kharge on the issue demonstrates that the main opposition party practices the politics of convenience and not of principles, they alleged.

"It is very unfortunate that the Congress' hand is always with those who exploit women. JNU has dismissed Akoijam, but there is a deafening silence from Rahul Gandhi, Piyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi," BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said. She said, "Rahulji, your voice may be very loud when you raise the 'Smash the Patriarchy' slogan, but it falls silent when the issue concerns Bimol Akoijam because the Congress practices a politics of convenience rather than one based on principles." Swaraj said the Congress' pitch for "feminism" may well begin with a hashtag, but it is sacrificed the moment it reaches the threshold of accountability. Slamming the Congress' top leaders, BJP MP and Mahila Morcha president Roop Kumari Choudhary alleged that Gandhi has given Akoijam "protection" instead of punishment, despite the Manipur MP lacking a moral right to remain a Member of the Lok Sabha after the JNU sacked him over sexual harassment charges.

"It is precisely due to the Congress' silence on the issue that its national media coordinator Sanjeev Singh misbehaved with BJP Mahila Morcha workers during a recent protest they organised outside the Congress headquarters to press for action against Akoijam," Choudhary alleged. MP Purandeswari demanded that Sonia Gandhi and other top Congress leaders explain why Akoijam is not expelled from the party until now, despite a JNU inquiry committee finding him "guilty".