By Abdul Rahman
The website of the digital magazine, Vikatan Plus, which has been in publication for over a century now, was blocked without any notice following the publication of a cartoon depicting Modi in chains sitting next to US President Donald Trump during their recent meeting in Washington DC.
Scores of journalists and office bearers of the Chennai Press Club held a protest in the city of Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday, February 18, against the Union Government of India’s attacks on the Tamil language magazine.
The cartoon, published on the website on February 10 was a reference to hundreds of Indian deportees arriving to the country from the US in chains.
The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting claimed the cartoon was a violation of the country’s Information Technology act and ordered its blocking on February 15. The website was later restored.
Criticism mounts over press freedom and government censorship
The protesters accused the ultra-right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government of violating the due process of law and attacking the freedom of the press in the country.
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. K. Stalin called the blocking of the website an assault on media freedom saying “such arbitrary censorship cannot be tolerated in a democratic society.” He even claimed that the move shows the “fascist nature of the BJP” and demanded the immediate removal of the blockade of the website.
This story was originally published in peoplesdispatch.org. Read the full story here.
