The Kerala Story ban isn't the only instance of Mamata Banerjee's whip on artistic freedom

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and Trinamool Congress supremo, has often taken a stand which has riled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With the BJP cooking out in support of The Kerala Story, a film about how girls and women were lured into getting converted to Islam and join the dreaded terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Mamata Banerjee has taken a contrary position and decided to ban the screening of the movie 

The West Bengal government’s decision, however, faced severe criticism from the opposition, especially the BJP with the party leaders stating that the Bengal Chief Minister was ignorant and wanted to keep her eyes shut from reality.

While Mamata is being accused of suppressing ‘artistic freedom’ in the state after banning The Kerala Story, this is not the first time that the TMC supremo has been accused of ignoring the ‘Freedom of Speech’.

Earlier in 2019, the Bengali film ‘Bhobishyoter Bhoot’ was taken down from the theatres by the authorities, a day after the release of the film which was a dark satire on West Bengal politics and politicians. 

However, the Supreme Court later imposed a fine of Rs 20 lakh on the Mamata government for imposing a “virtual” ban on the public screening of the satirical film Bhobishyoter Bhoot in the state. The top court also asked the TMC-led government to ensure that no obstruction or restraint of any kind was imposed on the screening of the movie across West Bengal. 

The then Justice DY Chandrachud, now the Chief Justice of India, was heading the Supreme Court bench which observed that the action on the film by the Bengal government was a serious matter wherein intolerance was used against artistic freedom.

Mamata’s flip-flop over freedom of speech 

Mamata’s stand on freedom of speech and expression has been inconsistent. While she has often taken on the BJP for allegedly trying to curb artistic freedom, her government’s record has had a chequered record.

Interestingly, the Bengal Chief Minister made a huge hue and cry during the Padmavat controversy in 2017. Terming the controversy around Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavat a ‘super emergency’, she had tweeted, “The Padmavati controversy is not only unfortunate but also a calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves. We condemn this super emergency.” 

Stand on satires

More than a decade ago in 2012, a case was registered against Ambikesh Mahapatra, a chemistry professor at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, after he forwarded an email allegedly containing derogatory cartoons of Mamata Banerjee and TMC leader Mukul Roy. The state government had filed the case against Mahapatra under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In another incident, a YouTuber was arrested in 2022 from Bengal’s Nadia district for allegedly creating memes about the Bengal Chief Minister.