Return of M J Akbar: From exit as MoS in Modi 1.0 to part of global outreach team

Akbar, 74, volition beryllium portion of the delegation led by elder BJP person Ravi Shankar Prasad, which volition beryllium headed to Europe to little the EU and countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark to reenforce New Delhi’s diplomatic outreach.

In his caller pieces, Akbar has made scathing attacks connected Islamabad implicit its way grounds of sponsoring coercion against India, praising the occurrence India achieved done the strikes connected panic bases successful Pakistan

under Operation Sindoor. “To forestall the unthinkable from becoming world you indispensable marque it thinkable. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has conscionable done truthful with Pakistan,” helium posted connected X connected Friday.

In 2012, Akbar had written the publication “Tinderbox: The past and aboriginal of Pakistan” connected the modern past of the neighbouring country. In the book, Akbar illustrated the humanities and ideological factors that led to the instauration of Pakistan, successful peculiar the Muslim League’s consciousness that Muslims were facing a “loss of governmental and subject power”.

Akbar’s journalism vocation has spanned respective decades successful the people of which helium headed aggregate newsrooms. He was a Congress MP from 1989 to 1991 from Kishanganj successful Bihar. He, however, mislaid the spot successful the 1991 polls.

In 2014, Akbar joined the BJP, frankincense re-entering politics. After serving arsenic a spokesperson for the party, helium was nominated to the Rajya Sabha successful 2015. He was appointed the MoS for External Affairs successful the archetypal Modi authorities successful 2016.

During the MeToo movement, Akbar was forced to resign arsenic a Union curate successful October 2018 amid a governmental firestorm aft his respective erstwhile women colleagues levelled intersexual harassment allegations against him. He denied these allegations, calling them “baseless” and “fabricated”.

“Since I person decided to question justness successful a tribunal of instrumentality successful my idiosyncratic capacity, I deem it due to measurement down from bureau and situation mendacious accusations levied against me, besides successful a idiosyncratic capacity,” Akbar had said astatine the time. He had besides said helium was “deeply grateful” to PM Modi and the past External Affairs Minister, precocious Sushma Swaraj, for “the accidental to service the country”. His resignation was accepted by past President Ramnath Kovind.

Late successful 2018, Akbar filed a transgression defamation lawsuit against writer Priya Ramani, the archetypal to publically sanction and impeach Akbar of alleged intersexual harassment. A Delhi tribunal successful 2021 acquitted Ramani, saying a pistillate has the close to enactment grievances earlier immoderate level of her prime adjacent aft decades. Akbar challenged her acquittal successful the Delhi High Court, which admitted the entreaty and sent a announcement to Ramani.

Akbar’s governmental graph plummeted aft his resignation arsenic an MoS. In the contiguous aftermath, helium had retained his posts arsenic a subordinate and vice-chairman of the enforcement assembly of the past Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society – which has since been renamed arsenic the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library. But erstwhile the nine was reconstituted successful 2019, helium mislaid some these positions too.