Anthony Weiner might have opened a curtain for America into the wild and not-so-sexy world of statesmen engaged in technological smut, but the former New York congressman has nothing on three Indian politicians caught this week viewing porn during government proceedings.
The three ministers in Karnataka, a state in Southern India, resigned mid-week after being caught on television cameras viewing pornography on a mobile phone.
According to The Hindu, Minister for Co-operation Lakshman Savadi, Minister for Women and Child Development C.C. Patil and Minister for Ports and Environment Krishna Palemar offered their resignations “voluntarily” after public outrage erupted when the men were seen on television viewing the pornographic video during a Tuesday assembly session.
“We live in a country where there already is this social mindset that women are disposable commodities and are seen as transferable properties,” Renuka Chowdhary, a member of the Congress Party, reportedly told CNN-IBN.
“It really is troubling that the people who are in positions of power and have the responsibility to change things actually have the same mindset and are busy watching porn,” she added.
The UK Mirror reports that the ministers initially refused to step down, explaining that they had done nothing wrong and that the porn was just one big misunderstanding.
Patil called for an investigation, which he said would prove his innocence.
“We are requesting the honourable Speaker of the House to conduct an inquiry and we’ll come out with a clean chit,” Patil said.
“It is untrue,” added Savadi, according to the UK Daily Mail, denying he had done anything wrong — despite footage of Savadi watching porn. “We were not enjoying porn. The mobile phone does not belong to me. It was passed on to me by another member (Palemar), who had the clipping of the controversial rave party at Udupi. I merely went through the contents.”
“The truth is like this,” continued Savadi. “The mobile phone had a video of a rape incident. The victim is murdered by the rapists. Subsequently, the people chase the rapists and catch them. Later, the government awards death sentence to the accused. Patil and myself were sympathising with the victim.”
“That’s it. I need not resign over this trivial issue,” he added.
Palemar also claimed that he would be found innocent in an investigation.
“When there is an allegation, it’s not correct to continue as minister. There is a wrong perception and let there be an inquiry,” Palemar said.
Nevertheless, all three men have left their posts in the scandal’s wake.