Shiv Sena slams BJP over lack of action against Akbar

Mumbai: Without naming Union minister of state for external affairs, M.J. Akbar, the Shiv Sena in an editorial in its mouthpiece  Saamana said, “People involved in misconduct towards women are in the Cabinet.”

The party blamed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government for not taking any action.

The Sena in its editorial said, “The BJP (prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls) had promised food, clothing and shelter to all and also to make India a ‘moral country’. But people involved in misconduct towards women are in the Cabinet while decisions are taken to encourage alcoholism.”

Several women journalists have come forth to accuse Mr Akbar, a former newspaper editor, of sexually harassing them during his stint as a journalist. Mr Akbar has refuted the allegations as “false, fabricated and deeply distressing” and also filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a Delhi court Monday against one of the women journalists who has levelled charges against him.

The Sena also criticised the state government’s proposal of online sale and home delivery of liquor. “The state is facing drought but now it seems there is also an ‘intellectual drought’. Modi had not made any promise before the Lok Sabha polls of home delivery of liquor. What is the guarantee that people will not drive after getting drunk at home? The government is so careful of people that it decided to deliver liquor at their doorsteps.”