Cartoonist Nituparna Rajbongshi has been receiving backlash for his cartoons criticising the Citizenship Amendment Bill on Twitter, The Indian Express reported.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, which was passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, 9 January, met with a 12-hour state-wide bandh called by 46 organisations across Assam.
The former journalist shared multiple cartoons against the bill which aims at making illegal Hindu migrants from neighbouring countries, eligible for citizenship. One of Rajbongshi's cartoons depicted Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as a nude caricature and received flak for it.
‘I Don’t Regret it a Bit’
The cartoon showed Sonowal holding a figure that represents a Hindu Bangladeshi in one hand and a figure which depicts an Assamese clinched in another hand.
“I drew this cartoon day before yesterday when a few Assamese boys staged a nude protest in front of the Parliament in New Delhi. Before, Sarbananda Sonowal was the face of the anti-immigration movement, he was the one who showed us the way. And today, because of him, we Assamese have been reduced to protesting naked.”Nituparna Rajbongshi told The Indian Express
“Yes, I am facing a lot of flak for this cartoon but I do not regret it one bit,” he added.
Several users on Twitter have criticised Rajbongshi by tagging the Assam Police and asking them to take action against him.
BJP's youth wing in Tinsukia district- Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s President Santanu Datta filed an FIR against a Digboi-based youth for sharing the Sonowal cartoon on Tuesday, 8 January, The Indian Express reported.
“The cartoon insults the CM of Assam. We felt really bad to see it. He is, after all, our chief minister. Now we have done our duty by reporting it — let the law take its course,”Santanu Datta, president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha
‘Fight Not About BJP or Congress, But Assamese’
The cartoonist said that the fight was not about the BJP or the Congress, but what the future of Assamese.
“It’s not like I am criticising just the BJP. Even when the Congress was in power, they did not do anything. Our fight is not about the Congress or the BJP. Or about Hindus, or Muslims. It is about us Assamese. What will happen to us?”Nituparna Rajbongshi told The Indian Express
Rajbongshi further said that he has received an email from Twitter saying his media is labelled as ‘sensitive content’.
“The email also said that they will permanently adjust my account settings if I continue to upload potentially sensitive media,” he said, “But I am not scared.”
However, this is not the first time the 38-year-old cartoonist is facing backlash.
Earlier in 2017 he received death threats on Facebook for a cartoon representing Gorakhpur incident where he made about 70 children dying linking it to PM Narendra Modi, The Indian Express reported.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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