Twitterati slams Mamata for arrest over cartoons
14 Apr 2012
The Twitterati has had a field day slamming the West Bengal government's arrest of a Jadavpur University professor as an "extreme violation of freedom of expression.'' The professor was arrested for forwarding cartoons lampooning ruling Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
"Shame! Shame! A professor is arrested over a cartoon in Kolkata. It's an extreme violation of freedom of expression!" tweeted proscribed Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, now in New Delhi.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Brinda Karat saw the action as reminiscent of the internal emergency in India between 1975 and 1977.
"The arrest shows Mamata's mindset. This is very much like what happened during emergency," said her tweet.
Taking a sarcastic jibe, another said, "No Marx, no cartoons in Mamata-di's Bengal. ... Only Groucho Marx can make sense of the lady with hawai chappals (Banerjee)."
The reference was in the context of the recommendation made by a syllabus review committee appointed by Banerjee to "trim" the higher secondary history curriculum of "excesses" of Marxism.
Another tweet read "Mamata Banerjee is Hitler draped in a cotton sari, with Tagore's verses on her lips!"
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