In a possible display of rising intolerance in the Congress-JD(S) led Karnataka government, a man has been arrested for allegedly trolling Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on social media:
Mangalore police has taken suo motu cognisance and arrested a man named Prashant Pujary for trolling Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on social media
— ANI (@ANI) August 4, 2018
As reported by ANI, the Mangalore police decided to take suo motu cognisance against the accused Prashant Pujary and arrested him.
A Daji World report claims that Pujary was arrested on Friday after a complaint was filed against him at the Kadri police station for the allegedly offensive statements. The 24 year old Pujary hails from Meramajalu near Farangipet.
Incidentally such an effort to stifle the freedom to criticise an elected chief minister might lead some to believe that the JD(S) is learning a thing or two from the Congress party which has made a name for itself in undermining freedom of speech.
As reported by us, some of the anti-Freedom of Expression initiatives of the Congress include:
- Jawaharlal Nehru amending the constitution to impose reasonable restrictions on Freedom of Expression, the grounds to impose these restrictions though were pretty broad
- The Indira Gandhi government after imposing Emergency in 1975 imposed censorship of press during that period
- Rajiv Gandhi also had a penchant for brutally muzzling ‘Freedom of Expression. He banned the import of Salman Rushdie’s book Satanic Verses
Such disregard of freedom of expression has also rubbed onto current Congress President Rahul Gandhi, some of the instances being:
- In 2012, the UPA government under Congress moved to block ‘anti-Prophet’ cartoons, published by Charlie Hebdo ‘fearing communal tension’.
- In June 2017, a Congress leader was sacked for calling Congress President Rahul Gandhi ‘Pappu’. Guess who stayed silent?
- When Congress goons disrupted the screening of the film Indu Sarkar in July last year, Rahul Gandhi maintained radio silence
Even on a state level, the erstwhile Siddaramaiah led Karnataka government saw the arrest of people for allegedly creating the CM’s fake twitter handle, and for allegedly posting derogatory comments about Tipu Sultan.
It remains to be seen whether Pujary’s arrest is a one-off occurrence, or would the Congress-JD(S) alliance also decide to create an anti-Freedom of Expression list of its own.
