BJP Women MPs Petition President Murmu Over JNU Row
Many women BJP politicians went to Rashtrapati Bhavan, requesting President Droupadi Murmu’s help with an ongoing dispute at Jawaharlal Nehru University. They left a written memorandum urging firm action against Congress parliamentarian Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, whose dismissal from the university has turned into a fierce party-political contest. Among those in the group were Lok Sabha members Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Bansuri Swaraj and Malvika Devi, Rajya Sabha members Phangnon Konyak and Geeta Shakya, and Rekha Sharma, who once headed the National Commission for Women.
Akoijam, who sits in Parliament for Inner Manipur, was removed from his teaching post on 9 October after the university’s Internal Committee completed its inquiry and advised a major penalty. Reports say eleven women students had filed complaints against him in May. Two days after his dismissal, Delhi Police opened an FIR at Vasant Kunj North station, acting on a complaint from the campus chief security officer, and officers say the probe continues. These sexual harassment allegations are disputed. Akoijam rejects the charges outright. He says the process against him was driven by politics and has publicly doubted how the inquiry was run.
The delegation’s visit followed a demonstration on Monday by the BJP’s Mahila Morcha outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi, which Union Minister Annapurna Devi also attended. Protesters wanted Congress to expel him and wanted him to give up his seat in Parliament. Rekha Sharma argued that Congress has shown no willingness to act against its own member, which is why the group chose to approach the head of state. Bansuri Swaraj accused the opposition party of hypocrisy, pointing to its public talk of challenging patriarchy while staying quiet on this case.
What Murmu can do is an open question. Under current law, a member of Parliament is normally removed only after being convicted and given at least two years in prison, and the police probe against the former JNU professor is still beginning. The students involved in this case deserve a process that is fair, fast, and protected from party influence. Campus complaint mechanisms only work when young women trust that coming forward leads somewhere. The investigation by the police, and any reply from Congress, will be watched closely by many in the days ahead, and the answer will say quite a lot about how seriously institutions treat such cases.
