NRI behind Gandhi videos apologises - Page 2

NEW DELHI: A tasteless video clip on Mahatma Gandhi by New York-based NRI comedian Gautham Prasad has got the government's knickers in a twist. Outraged by the video, the government is seeking to shoot the medium — YouTube, currently the hottest video sharing website.

I&B ministry is understood to have taken up the matter with the IT ministry for 'action' against YouTube. While some I&B ministry sources said that YouTube would be blocked, some others said that YouTube would be asked to take off the offending video.

The government has also taken 'serious exception' to two TV channels — IBN-7 and Sahara — airing the video.

Fulminating against the 'assault on the father of the nation', I&B minister P R Dasmunsi on Friday demanded 'profound apology' from the channels, which came in pronto.

The move to block or act against YouTube — named by Time magazine as the 'Invention of the Year' for 2006 — has a throwback to the government's action last October against Orkut, an Internet social network service that's a rage with the youth. Orkut has several communities, and messages by one Pakistan-based 'Hate India' community had got the government all worked up.

Neither YouTube nor Orkut are based in India, although they have huge participation by Indians. This has often pitted the government against these entities which are outside Indian laws and which, with the spread of the Net and the progress of technology, are fast becoming a big presence in the country.

Coming to the offending video, it has Gandhi doing a pole dance, stripping, playing with daggers and dining with two beautiful women. An angry I&B ministry has decided the issue will be discussed by a committee headed by the additional secretary.