Porngate: Udupi 'rave party' takes centre stage in BJP-Cong war

Udupi: A "rave party", held at St Mary's Island on the Malpe Coast last week, has come to the centre of the porngate controversy after the main accused, minister Laxman Savadi, said he was watching the adult footage to "prepare for a discussion in the assembly on the ill-effects of the rave party".

Hundreds of foreigners and tourists, which includes over 600 couples, from different parts of the country participated in the three-day 'rave party' called 'Spring Zouk' last Friday.

Loud trance and house music, booze, disc lights and apparently even marijuana and other banned substances were found doing the rounds in the three-day fest. Reports say the party turned wild with many nude and semi-nude displays by people in the crowd, shocking some audiences in the conservative and quiet town of Udipi.

More than 300 tents were set up earlier to host the three-day party, which was held to promote Udipi as a fun tourist destination.

Last Sunday, members of the Youth Congress staged a protest at Malpe beach with allegedly pictures taken from the party showing tourists dancing in a manner the protesters condemned and termed as "obscene".

The point where the whole porngate incident turned into a 'holier than thou' cat fight between the BJP and Congress was when the Congress blamed the otherwise vocal RSS and Bajrang Dal of raising their voice against stray incidents involving minority community in the state but overlooking what they felt was a big scandal at the Island party.

So on Wednesday, the Congress accused the BJP of further double standards after their ministers were caught red-handed watching porn in the Assembly.

The Congress' argument basically falls on the principle that the BJP has always portrayed itself to be the "protector" of "Indian culture" against "western ideals" but has failed on both accounts to uphold their "self-proclaimed higher moral standards".