It was around this time last year that 'Je Suis Charlie' trended on social media. Well, we were all Charlies when it came to standing against oppressing the media.
But on Tuesday, when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted a cartoon, our Charlie-selves just vanished into thin air. The cartoon showed a tailed man flying towards Narendra Modi, saying, “Done Sir. All attention is on JNU.” The PM was shown standing on a burning dais, surrounded by issues such as Pathankot, Rohith Vemula, market slump, Rupee slide, Assembly polls and bills.
As usual, the Twittarati were quick in their response. They slammed Kejriwal for insulting Hindu god Hanuman. While a few who took umbrage at his post wanted him to apologise to all Hindus, most of them wanted him to be jailed.
Maybe Kejriwal made a poor judgement by retweeting something that caught his eyes, or it was a joke gone terribly wrong, or perhaps it's just the politician in him who loves taking potshots at Modi. Whatever it could be, aren't we all guilty of blowing things out of proportion?
With his post, Kejriwal has unwittingly added to the freedom of expression debate at a time when the BJP government is under fire over the JNU row.
Now just one question lingers in the mind – how tolerant are we?
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