The video-clip of an NRI stand-up comedian’s strip-show, clowning Mahatma Gandhi, attracted an instant ban from the Ministry of Information and Broadcast. Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi threatened to take disciplinary action against the two TV channels which telecast the clip of the night-club show.

Gautham Prasad, a Bangalore-born and Brooklyn-based comedian, reportedly performs his little jig dressed up as the Mahatma at a night-club in New York. Two Hindi TV channels - IBN-7 and Sahara - which sourced the show from the website, youtube.com, were hauled up for airing it several times. The channels, however, said it was a “process of bringing it to public knowlege”.

While Dasmunsi promptly issued a written statement demanding “an apology to the nation by both the channels in their telecast during prime time” on Thursday for “denigrating Mahatma Gandhi, which tantamounts to an assualt to the dignity of the Father of the Nation”, Ministry officials said that the issue is being taken up at an inter-ministerial level as it involves a website.

A professional entertainer, at the nightclub show, Prasad reportedly does a slow stripping dance just falling short of nudity. To top it, in the clip he’s also seen indulging in violence carrying draggers and AK-47, flirting with women and driving in a sports car. The video footage has been made available worldwide.

“It was ridiculous and offensive to say the least,’’ Dasmunsi fumed, adding that the IT and Home Ministries have also been informed to take action, which can lead to anything between a show-cause notice to cancellation of licence.

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