The back-slapping men’s club

In this image provided by DIPR, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal speaks during the Budget session of the State Assembly, in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: DIPR

In 2012, Ministers in the then BJP government in Karnataka, Laxman Savadi and C.C. Patil, were forced to resign from the Cabinet after they were caught on camera purportedly watching a porn clip. The two, besides the owner of the phone, Krishna Palemar, who also resigned, eventually emerged unscathed in the inquiry by the House committee for “lack of evidence.” This incident is among the many in Karnataka that are referred to as “sex scandals” — an umbrella term that is used to refer to a range of sexually inappropriate behaviours. BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi and Congress leader H.Y. Meti also had to resign on grounds of sexual impropriety. However, the 2012 case stood out because it unfolded on the floor of the House.

This year, the Legislative Assembly in the Congress-ruled State was witness to a Minister voluntarily narrating the story of another “scandal”. Prodded by BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal (expelled from the party since then for anti-party activities), Minister for Cooperation K.N. Rajanna told the House that there had been efforts to “honey trap” him and many others to ruin their public image and political careers.

He told the Assembly that 48 leaders from across parties, including some national-level leaders, had been honey-trapped. Some had been forced to take injunction orders from courts in the fear that clips of them in compromising positions with women might get circulated or aired by TV channels. He expressed concern over the ignominy Karnataka had earned as a “CD and pen drive factory” and asked the Home Minister to institute an inquiry to know the “producers, directors and actors” of these CDs. He called it a pidugu (epidemic) that had sullied Karnataka’s image.

In the same vein, Home Minister G. Parameshwara called it “maryadeya prashne (a question of honour)” of both the House and its members and assured a high-level probe into the matter. Five days later, Mr. Rajanna submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister, and a Criminal Investigation Department inquiry has begun into the allegations. However, the Minister has said that his official residence where the alleged honey-trap attempt was made did not have CCTV cameras, which means there is no video evidence.

The political messaging behind the entire episode in the faction-ridden Karnataka Congress — with loyalists of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar, who is aspiring for the top post, divided into two camps — has not escaped anyone’s attention. Mr. Rajanna is identified with Mr. Siddaramaiah’s camp and has said repeatedly that the Chief Minister will complete his term. When asked about Mr. Rajanna subtly pointing fingers at him, Mr. Shivakumar denied any role in it, but went on to ask how anyone can be honey-trapped if the victim was not a willing party.

What is missing in this drama is the dangerous tendency to put the so-called honey trap attempts and cases of blatant sexual abuse all into one basket. While politicians need not live up to high Victorian standards of sexual morality (Mr. Rajanna confessed that he is “neither Sri Ramachandra nor Harischandra”), the line between consensual liaisons of any kind and sexual abuse cannot be blurred.

Mr. Rajanna, speaking in the House, pointed to the Opposition benches and said that “paapa [poor] Revanna” and his family members too had been victims of this “epidemic”. This is shocking from a Minister whose government has instituted an inquiry over former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna allegedly raping numerous women, and making videos of his act. Based on the complaints of women, an investigation is on, and he is currently in jail. How pen drives containing these clips got into the public domain just before the Lok Sabha elections is a question that needs to be investigated separately and cannot be used to obfuscate the alleged abuse of women itself.

In the House, BJP MLA Munirathna, also being probed on complaint by a woman that he had raped her, recorded the act, and used the video to blackmail her to honey-trap his political rivals, also expressed sympathy for Mr. Revanna. The MLA, who was arrested and is out on bail, said that his grandchildren were facing humiliation because his reputation has been sullied.

One hopes that this back-slapping men’s club does not undermine the seriousness sexual abuse cases in the zeal to protect their “honour”.