The website of leading Tamil media house Vikatan was blocked from Saturday, February 15, the publication said. This came just hours after Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai called for action against Vikatan over a cartoon depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his hands chained in front of US President Donald Trump.
The cartoon was apparently a reference to illegal Indian immigrants being handcuffed and sent back to India, and the PM not taking up the matter with Trump during their meetings recently. Vikatan is one of Tamil Nadu’s oldest media houses and will turn 100 in 2026.
Vikatan released a statement saying that they “will stand strong in defense of freedom of expression.”
“Many users from different locations have reported that they are unable to access the Vikatan website. However, as of now, there has been no official announcement from the central government regarding the blocking of the Vikatan website. Earlier, Vikatan Plus, the digital magazine of Vikatan, published a cover cartoon (Feb 10, Monday) highlighting the issue of Indians being handcuffed and deported from the United States, while Prime Minister Modi remained silent on the matter. This cartoon was criticized by BJP supporters, and BJP state president Annamalai reportedly lodged a complaint against Vikatan with the central government. In this situation, several readers have reported that they are unable to access the Vikatan website. However, there has been no official confirmation from government sources about the website being blocked. For nearly a century, Vikatan has stood firmly in support of freedom of expression. We have always operated with the principle of upholding free speech and will continue to do so. We are still trying to ascertain the reasons behind the blocking of our website, and are in the process of taking up this matter with the ministry.”
Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai had said that they had submitted two separate representations, one to the Chairperson of the Press Council of India and another to Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs L Murugan. He listed five cartoons that appeared in Vikatan and said that action should be taken against Vikatan magazine “for being a mouthpiece of the DMK and for publishing offensive and baseless content” against PM Modi.
One of the cartoons shows PM Modi waving a blood stained flag after a train crash.
BJP leaders were happy that the website was taken down, and many took to social media to celebrate.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin condemned the disabling of Vikatan website. “Blocking the media for expressing opinions is not good for democracy! This is an example of the fascist nature of the BJP. I request immediate permission to grant access to the blocked website,” he said.
This is not the first instance in recent times. In February 2024, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had asked The Caravan to take down its story ‘Screams from the Army Post’ within 24 hours under section 69 A (Power to issue directions for blocking public access of any information through any computer resource) of the Information Technology Act. The story was about the torture of civilians by the Indian Army in the heavily militarised Jammu and Kashmir.