The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Tripura seems to have been caught on camera watching a pornographic video on his phone during the assembly session. Jadav Lal Nath represents the Bagbassa constituency in Tripura.
The video, taken during budget-related discussions in the state assembly, seems to have been shot by someone sitting behind Nath. It shows the MLA scrolling through a feed of video clips, and stopping at a point to watch a clip that appears to be pornographic.
“All kinds of things go viral on social media. Without finding out the facts, I cannot act on it. I haven’t received any written complaint,” Tripura assembly speaker Biswabandhu Sen said on the incident, according to NDTV.
The BJP has reportedly sought an explanation from Nath. State BJP president Rajib Bhattacharya has said that the party is planning to issue a notice against Nath, Assam Tribune reported.
Nath has claimed that the video started playing on its own after he received multiple calls on his phone. “I am aware that the use of mobile phones is prohibited in the Assembly. I was getting repeated calls and after I picked up a call, obscene videos started playing on my phone. I turned them off soon after,” he said, according to The Indian Express.
Multiple opposition party leaders have asked speaker Sen to take action against Nath. “We want proper and strict action against him as per rules, for example, barring him from contesting elections for next six years or so,” Animesh Debbarma of TIPRA Motha said.
“An MLA of [the] party [which claims to be beacon holders of Indian culture and tradition], whom the parliamentary affairs minister certifies to be a mathematics expert, is seen watching obscene content in the Assembly. We condemn it and criticise this,” CPI(M) leader Jitendra Chaudhury said.
In 2012, three BJP ministers in Karnataka – Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and Krishna Palemar – were forced to resign after they were caught watching porn in the assembly. Not only were two of them later reinstated by the party, Savadi was even made the state’s deputy chief minister in 2019, despite having lost his seat in the assembly elections.
In Gujarat too, two BJP MLAs were accused of watching porn inside the assembly in 2012. Shankar Chaudhary and Jethabhai Bharwad denied the allegations, and the party too defended them.