Lalu lashes out at Facebook culture and gay marriages

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Thursday demanded a debate in the Lok Sabha on "degrading" Indian values due to cultural aggression from internet and other tools originating in the west.

"Where is our country headed to?" Lalu Prasad said, referring to Delhi's first slutwalk, held last week to denounce the view that women's dress is to blame for the sexual harassment they face.

"Thousands of people marched on roads stripped, wearing colourful tattoos... they were celebrating. This is a serious issue and we demand a discussion on it," he thundered in the house.

He said Indians were close to allowing same sex marriage.

"Woman will marry woman. And you are accepting it silently," Lalu Prasad said, referring to a Delhi High Court 2009 ruling decriminalising same-sex behaviour among consenting adults.

He said India was the land of saints and sages and the "Western cultural aggression is destroying our culture".

"Vulgarity, internet chatting, Valentine Day, internet, Ipod, facebook - all these things have been brought from America, and that is why obscenity is growing. We are losing our cultural values, legacies," he said.