The Vikatan magazine’s website was blocked ollowing the publication of a cartoon featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi
| Photo Credit: Vikatan Group Logo/Website
The Vikatan magazine’s website was blocked in India by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through a referral to the Department of Telecommunications, three people with knowledge of the order told The Hindu. The website was blocked following the publication of a cartoon featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting, shackled in chains, next to U.S. President Donald Trump, in an apparent reference to deported immigrants being flown to India in chains.
The cartoon sparked outrage within the BJP, whose Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai filed a complaint with the Press Council of India and the I&B Ministry. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan was evasive on the order when pressed on the matter by journalists in Chennai. “Appropriate legal steps are being taken,” Mr. Murugan said. When specifically asked if an order had been issued, Mr. Murugan said, “They will [soon] say something.” No official announcement of the block has been forthcoming.
The block on February 15 was sudden, and Vikatan staff had no prior warning from the Union government before their website was knocked offline by internet service providers and telecom operators. “Officials from the Press Bureau of India visited Vikatan’s registered office to inquire whether Vikatan Plus was available in print,” Vikatan said in a post on its website, in an apparent reference to the Press Information Bureau, an arm of the I&B Ministry which engages with the press around the country on the Union government’s behalf.
On February 16, the magazine received a formal notice from the MIB, saying that the Inter Departmental Committee under the IT Rules, 2021 was conducting a hearing on blocking that specific cartoon. This was not the blocking order sent to the DoT, which immediately blocked the entire website. The notice did not mention the whole website’s blocking. Vikatan has defended its rights to post the cartoon, and has said it will legally challenge an order to take it down. The Ministry has accepted a request to consider the magazine’s stand on the issue on Thursday.
“Vikatan has a long history of political satire, having criticized leaders from Winston Churchill (before independence) to Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and current PM Modi,” the magazine said in a post on Tuesday. “We have been equally critical of our local CM’s from Kamaraj, Anna, Karunanithi, MGR, Jayalalitha, EPS, OPS and Stalin. This cartoon was no exception.” The magazine has set up an alternate domain, anandavikatan.com, for readers to access the site.
Published – February 18, 2025 04:26 pm IST