X writes to Manjul about cartoons on Mamata Banerjee posted six years ago
Following a request sent to X by the West Bengal Police Cyber Crime Wing, the social media platform informed renowned cartoonist Manjul on Wednesday via a letter that it had received such a request.
The issue concerns two cartoons of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by Mr. Manjul shared on the platform (then Twitter) six years ago, in 2019. The police have asked X to remove two posts from the Manjultoons X account on grounds that it 'violates the law(s) of India'.
The social media platform has neither removed the posts, nor directed Mr. Manjul to take them down.
Over the course of a career spanning almost four decades, Mr. Manjul said he had gathered enough knowledge to know what his cartoons could feature to keep them safely within the parameters of Indian laws, and not violate any rights. The two cartoons under scrutiny are among the many satirical cartoons he has published over the years in various news outlets.
'I have been drawing cartoons for the past 36 years. But the kind of backlash I have faced in the last 10-11 years is unprecedented. Even before that, I got many requests from powerful people who wanted to push their narratives through my cartoons, but I never thought someday they would come after the cartoon itself,' Mr. Manjul told The Hindu.
He has previously received notices from leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and from the Mumbai Police for his satirical work.
'It is funny that I have always been criticised for not speaking against Mamata Banerjee, and then this happens. If politicians claim they are loved by the people so much, then why do they fear small cartoons? What harm can a cartoon do?' Mr. Manjul said, adding that he may have to face police action at any time for cartoons he drew six years ago.
The censorship of cartoons in West Bengal can be traced to over a decade ago, when Jadavpur University's Professor of Chemistry Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested in 2012 for forwarding a cartoon that allegedly showed Ms. Banerjee in a negative light. Prof. Mahapatra fought an 11-year-long battle and was finally acquitted in 2023.
'I was arrested under a criminal case for simply forwarding a cartoon. They used all State machinery to crackdown on me. I had to stay in jail. Why?' Prof Mahapatra said, adding that there could be no redemption for the years of abuse he had faced.
One of Mr. Manjul's cartoons shows the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as two branches of the same tree, Prof. Mahapatra said, adding the TMC could be trying to distance itself from the BJP ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election by taking issue with Mr. Manjul.
'This is an attack against expression and freedom of speech,' Prof Mahapatra said, an emotion that was echoed by Mr. Manjul as well.
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