Indian state ministers resign over porn video

Activists of All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) stage a protest against the three BJP ministers of Karnataka involved in a sleaze row in Bangalore on February 8, 2012. PHOTO: AFP

BANGALORE: Three state ministers from southern India, including one holding a portfolio for women and child development, quit on Wednesday after being accused of watching porn in the local assembly.

The ministers from the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were filmed by television cameras watching graphic footage on their mobile phones on Tuesday while other lawmakers in the house were debating legislation.

In the footage, the ministers were seen watching a woman dancing, undressing and then engaging in a sexual act. They passed their mobile phones amongst themselves.

“We have resigned to avoid embarrassment to our party and not give the opposition an opportunity to disrupt the assembly proceedings today,” state minister for cooperation Laxman Savadi told reporters.

“We were watching a clipping of an incident for a discussion on the rave parties held at St. Mary’s Island (on the western coast of Karnataka). It was not a porn clip.”

Karnataka’s minister for women and child development, C.C. Patil, and the minister for ports and fishery Krishna Palemar also stepped down.

“It’s a shameless act. The three ministers have submitted their resignation. We will set up an inquiry committee to probe the incident,” said BJP spokeswoman Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

A survey by India Today magazine conducted in 2008 in Indian cities found that three out of five men and one out of five women approved of pornography, which is illegal but widely available in India.

The incident is the latest embarrassment to hit the Hindu nationalist BJP.

An ombudsman investigating corrupt mining practices reported last year that illegal mining fraud had cost the Karnataka state and federal exchequers $3.6 billion.

After the scandal broke B.S. Yeddyurappa, the chief minister of Karnataka, had to resign and was arrested on graft accusations. He is now free on bail.

Yeddyurappa also faces allegations of selling government land at below market cost to family members.

Reacting to the sex video incident, a leader of the national ruling Congress party, Kapil Sibal, who is also telecom minister, said the BJP should “introspect” before they preach morality in public life.

In 2009, young activists from the radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, which has close ties with the BJP, attacked women in a fashionable bar, accusing them of “debauched behaviour” for drinking and smoking.