Cartoon about Modi: Will Vikatan website be blocked due to Annamalai complaint?
News has emerged that the website of Vikatan Group, one of the leading media groups in Tamil, has been blocked by the central government. This has drawn condemnation from various quarters.
Many readers have been unable to access Vikatan Group’s website, Vikatan.com, since Saturday night. The company’s app is also not working on most mobile phones.
A few days ago, BJP state president K. Annamalai had sent a complaint to the central government on Saturday regarding a cartoon that the group published criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the site was not working that evening itself. However, Vikatan Group has said that they have not received any formal notification from the central government so far.
However, BJP state vice president Narayanan Tirupati says that publishing such a cartoon about the Prime Minister who went to the US is an act that should be punished.
What happened in this matter? What does the Vikatan side say? Is this action against freedom of expression?
What is the complaint made by Annamalai against Vikatan?
An online magazine named `Vikatan Plus’ is being published by the Vikatan Group. A cartoon was published on the cover of this magazine dated February 10.
This cartoon was published to indicate that Prime Minister Modi, who met US President Donald Trump, did not say anything about the deportation of Indians who were said to be staying illegally in the US in handcuffs.
BJP state president K. Annamalai filed a complaint with the central government regarding this cartoon.
In the complaint letter sent to the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs L. Murugan and the President of the Press Council of India Ranjana Prakash Desai, Annamalai had accused Vikatan magazine of acting as a mouthpiece of the DMK and publishing baseless and malicious material against the Prime Minister.
“For the past few years, Vikatan, which has been acting as a mouthpiece of the DMK in the name of journalism, has been publishing untrue articles that insult the good work of the Central Government and the Prime Minister. The caricature currently featured on the cover shows the Prime Minister’s political journey in a bad light to please the DMK. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should take action in this regard,” he had said.
What does the BJP say?
But publishing such a cartoon is an act that should be punished, says BJP state vice-president Narayanan Tirupati.
“This is an anti-national act. Those involved in this should be condemned and punished. There is no doubt that putting up a cartoon in front of the American President as if he were chained when the Indian Prime Minister went to America is an act that should be punished,” says BJP state vice-president Narayanan Tirupati.
