Recently, comedy group All India Bakchod ran into trouble when they posted a meme poking fun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It all started with an image of Modi’s doppelganger, which went viral on Twitter and then got picked up by publications. AIB made use of the Snapchat dog filter to make their joke.
However the joke, did not go down well with the authorities, who then lodged an FIR against the group for being disrespectful towards the Prime Minister. AIB has since then deleted the post, but the furore over a simple joke, has not gone down too well, with people and has sparked an online debate of whether one is not allowed freedom of expression in this country and cannot make jokes on political leaders.
Absolute FOE includes right to criticize politicians, all religions alike. Any violation of this is a threat to FOE, for all of us.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) July 15, 2017
Joining the debate now, is Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who took a veiled jibe at all those who got offended. This is what he posted,
Attn all trolls: I took the #DogFilter challenge! @AllIndiaBakchod pic.twitter.com/0lmClCS7CF
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 15, 2017
Here are some reactions to his tweet:
You are looking cute sir 😍
Dog is my favorite pet animal 😘— Meena (@meenabg) July 15, 2017
Pls try cow filter too! That would be more hilarious. 😊👍
— Keerthi (@realkeerthi) July 15, 2017
Taking up the dog filter challenge himself, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien also posted a picture on Instagram using the dog filter with the caption, “It’s the weekend. Time for a little bit of fun.”
What are your thoughts on the entire issue?
