Political satire is a crucial part of any democracy. However, the West Bengal police seems to have ignored this basic principle as it arrested a person for sharing a humorous image of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday.
The person detained was a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Priyanka Sharma. The offending meme superimposed Banerjee’s face on a picture of Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra at the Met Gala in New York last week.
Sharma was arrested under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (defamation) as well as sections 66A (offensive content) and 67A (distributing sexually explicit material) of the Information and Technology Act – a gross overreaction to a harmless act of political lampooning.
This clampdown on speech that offends the ruling party in West Bengal is not new. In February, a satirical movie about Bengali politics disappeared from theatres the day after it was released. The Supreme Court declared that this was a “virtual ban” imposed by the state administration on a film that was mildly critical of the Trinamool Congress.
In 2013, a film was banned for commenting on the Tata Motor company’s decision to exit West Bengal, the result of a popular movement led by Mamata Banerjee. In 2012, the Banerjee government banned a book for pointing out the poor state of Muslims in the state.
It is quite clear that the Trinamool Congress does not have the stomach for dissent – a troubling sign for West Bengal.
This intolerance to dissent is not limited to books and art but extends forcefully into Bengal’s day-to-day politics. Complaints about Trinamool workers preventing the Opposition from mobilising are widespread. Matters peaked in 2018, as the Panchayat elections saw an unprecedented 34% seats go uncontested – with only Trinamool candidates allowed to contest. The ongoing general election has also seen widespread violence, in spite of the extensive deployment of paramilitary forces.
In 2011, Mamata Banerjee won a historic victory over the 34-year old Left government by promising “poriborton” or change. Since then, as part of her political battles with Narendra Modi, Banerjee has often claimed a liberal high ground, assuring Bengalis that matters such as food habits will not be legislated, unlike in many other states, where eating beef is now criminalised.
However, as the frequency of these incidents show, Banerjee’s poribortan remains limited to when it can be used as a political tool. At other times, the Trinamool Congress is more than happy to help West Bengal’s illiberal slide.
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