Kutch:
Reacting to the arrest of a Jadavpur University professor in Kolkata for posting a cartoon of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the internet, former Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi said on Saturday cartoons are integral to democracy.
Trivedi, who had to quit the Union Cabinet after he fell foul of Ms Banerjee for increasing train fare in rail budget and had to eventually resign on her directive, said in Kutch: "I feel cartoons are integral part of healthy democracy."
If a person is "standing on one's feet", he or she should not be perturbed by cartoons, Mr Trivedi said, speaking in Gujarati.
The cartoon features Mr Trivedi besides Ms Banerjee and Mr Trivedi's successor as Railway Minister, Mukul Roy.
"Cartoons cannot destroy your image. It is the people who make your image and it is they who destroy it," Mr Trivedi said.
Mr Trivedi visited Kutch, his ancestral town, on Saturday.
West Bengal police on Friday arrested Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra of Jadavpur University for posting a cartoon of Ms Banerjee on a popular social networking site.
The cartoon showed the Chief Minister and the Railway Minister Mukul Roy exchanging dialogues from Sonar Kella a popular Bengali film by Satyajit Ray, alluding to the replacement of Mr Trivedi by Mr Roy.
"Only thing is a cartoon should be healthy and it should not be in bad culture," Mr Trivedi added.