New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced plans for nationwide protests against Congress Lok Sabha member Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a day after Jawaharlal Nehru University dismissed him from his professorship with immediate effect following a sexual harassment inquiry.
As part of the planned demonstrations, the BJP will organize protests outside Congress offices across state capitals on Saturday, followed by further rallies at district headquarters nationwide on Monday. The demonstrations are set to be led by the BJP Mahila Morcha and prominent women leaders, with party members turning out with flags and placards.
The ruling party intends to use the protests to question the accountability of the Congress leadership regarding the accusations against Akoijam, drawing a comparison between the party's handling of the situation and Rahul Gandhi's public campaigns against patriarchy and gender discrimination.
The political fallout stems from JNU's official order terminating Akoijam's employment. The decision followed an investigation by the university's Internal Committee into complaints lodged by 11 female students.
Signed by Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit and dated October 9, the university order stated that the committee recommended major disciplinary action based on its findings, resulting in immediate dismissal from institutional services under due process.
Akoijam previously served as a professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems within JNU's School of Social Sciences. He entered parliament after winning the Inner Manipur constituency for the Congress party during the 2024 general elections.
Complaints against the academic-turned-politician were reportedly filed in May, with female students alleging that he invited them to his campus residence under the guise of academic meetings and attempted to sexually harass them. Additional complaints alleged that he directed inappropriate and obscene remarks at students during lectures.
The allegations had earlier sparked campus demonstrations, with the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad demanding an independent and transparent investigation into the matter.
Welcoming the university's dismissal order, ABVP JNU president Mayank Panchal characterized the action as a vital milestone for institutional accountability, emphasizing that the safety and dignity of female students must override political partisanship.
ABVP JNU secretary Praveen Kumar Piyush asserted that simple university termination is insufficient, demanding that rigorous legal steps be taken against the parliamentarian. Akoijam had previously denied all accusations, attributing the claims to what he termed racist schemers seeking to ruin his reputation through falsehoods, though he did not immediately issue a fresh response following the termination order.
The upcoming demonstrations are poised to escalate political tensions around the controversy, as ruling party groups push for deeper legal repercussions alongside the institutional dismissal already executed by the university.