It is a sad thing when our hard-working politicians are chastised for the innocent act of watching pornography while Parliament is in session. It is sadder when they all inadvertently belong to a political party that has spent decades working tirelessly to uphold Indian culture and values. What sort of country has a problem with ministers watching pornography? It’s time we had a conversation about this because it is obvious this will keep happening.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, this refers to something that took place a few weeks ago. Apparently, an MLA from Tripura was caught watching an obscene video on his phone during the assembly session. He was being filmed by another colleague (an innocent act, presumably) which is how the rest of us found out about it. There were a lot of people upset with him, and not just because the use of mobile phones is prohibited in the assembly. I knew there had to be an innocent explanation, of course, and I was right. According to the MLA, he was disturbed by callers and, on finally answering one of them, was appalled to find objectionable videos start playing on his phone soon after.