Caught on camera

Sir — It is a matter of great shame that three former members of the legislative assembly belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka were dismissed — two for watching pornography while the assembly was in session, and one for carrying pornographic pictures on his mobile phone (“Price of morality that is prone to porn”, Feb 9). There is little that members of the BJP can say to defend the party or the guilty former ministers — Lakshman Savadi, C.C. Patil and Krishna Palemar.

The errant men have embarrassed the government of Karnataka and their own party members. It is true that the BJP asked them to resign after the incident. However, it cannot accuse the Congress of trying to gain political mileage from the sensitive situation. It would have done the same had the Congress been in a sticky spot.

Yours faithfully,
J.S. Acharya, Hyderabad

Sir — It is bad enough that the former minister for women and child development, C.C. Patil, and the former minister for cooperation, Lakshman Savadi, were caught watching a sexually violent video clip in the assembly. What is even worse is the excuses they offered for their act. Savadi said that they were watching the clip in the context of a debate on a rave party that occurred on an island off Udupi. C.C. Patil was entrusted with the portfolio for women and child development. I wonder how watching violent porn would have helped him check the sexual abuse of, and violence against, women. Patil, Savadi and the former minister for ports and environment, Krishna Palemar, defended themselves as though they were innocent. When men in power behave in such an uncivilized fashion, they should be imprisoned.

Yours faithfully,
Manas Mukhopadhyay,Chinsurah, Hooghly

Sir — It is not enough for the BJP to have asked the three ministers involved in ‘porngate’ to resign from their posts. It should have also terminated their membership in the party. The former ministers have proved their own guilt by trying to provide a slew of excuses for their actions, even though their shameful behaviour was clearly caught on camera. The Speaker of the Karnataka legislative assembly, K.G. Bopaiah, suspended the ministers but did not register a complaint with the police.

Assembly members often misuse the immunity granted to them by their posts to indulge in untoward behaviour. This immunity should be taken away immediately. They should be prosecuted like ordinary citizens. An inquiry into the matter is not enough punishment. The government should come down heavily on such unlawful acts. The member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rajesh Manjhi, was caught travelling with a woman by passing her off as his wife. For such a shameful act, he was just debarred from 30 sittings in the Lok Sabha.

Yours faithfully,
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Delhi

Sir — The actions of Lakshman Savadi, C.C. Patil and Krishna Palemar have compromised the dignity of the Karnataka assembly. It is a serious setback for the BJP, which is known for its fervent drive to uphold ‘Indian culture’. Without waiting for the report of the Speaker, the party asked the three men to resign. The BJP should not allow them to stand for elections for many years. The chief minister of Karnataka, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, has said that the ministers resigned on their own. The BJP should pull up its socks and work on its image in Karnataka. After the scam involving the disgraced former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, this incident will do nothing to help the party’s credibility. This is not the first time that members of the BJP have been caught indulging in unlawful acts. The former president of the BJP, Bangaru Laxman, was allegedly caught on camera accepting a bribe in a fictitious defence deal. The senior BJP leader in Chhattisgarh, Dilip Singh Judeo, was also reportedly filmed taking a bribe.

Yours faithfully,
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad