NEW DELHI: The PMK, Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss party was the first to raise the moral objection to actress Khusboo’s comment on premarital sex. Now he is trying to do a balancing act to diffuse the controversy
Ramadoss told an Indian newspaper: ‘‘We need many more Khushboos to talk about safe sex to the country’s youth. But you cannot propagate sex outside or prior to marriage.’’The minister said that his department had engaged many celebrities to talk about AIDS. He said: ‘‘Our brand ambassadors include Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan and we also want Shah Rukh Khan. All of them will be talking about AIDS prevention and safe sex.’’
Explaining why Khusboo’s statement was controversial he said: 'We have to remember that we are Indians and we have still not reached a point where we are comfortable discussing sex openly. It is not that we Indians don’t have sex. It’s just that we don’t talk about it. Even in America, nobody propagates sex for teenagers.'
Distancing PMK from the controversy that has now rocked the country for the last few weeks the minister said: ‘‘The PMK is in no way involved in the issue. This is a very trivial issue and we have much more important things to take care of. It was protest by people and cadres cutting across party lines. Even Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha did not approve of the statement.’’
He dragged the media into the issue and said:’ At the same time, I feel it is time to put a full stop on the subject. I will be the first one to condemn violent protest. It is the media which has given too much importance to a non-issue.’’
ABC policy on AIDS awareness from WHO propagates - A for abstinence, B for being faithful to partner and C for use of Condoms for sex..
Ramadoss questioned the pre-marital statement of Khusbooo by asking: ‘‘With the danger of HIV/AIDS how can we propagate premarital sex?’’
