Patna, April 16: The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, today condemned Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the arrest of Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra on the charge of circulating a cartoon depicting her, railway minister Mukul Roy and his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi.

Criticising the act of Mamata on the sidelines of a media interaction at his 10, Circular Road residence, Lalu told The Telegraph: “The professor was arrested without any genuine reason. Drawing cartoon is an excellent art and one should not feel offended. When I was the chief minister of Bihar, many people used to draw my cartoon in different poses and styles but neither I objected to them, nor took any punitive action ever.”

He said: “I strongly condemn the act of Mamata Banerjee. Everybody has the freedom of expression and this act is a serious assault on the right to speech and expression of an individual.”

Lalu also accused Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar of bowing before the MNS chief, Raj Thackeray, for the Bihar Divas celebration in Mumbai.

The RJD chief said: “There was no need to take permission from Raj before going to Mumbai. It clearly proves that a condition was set by Raj before Nitish could address the public gathering there.”

Expressing his anger over raising the slogan of “Jai Maharasthra” before “Jai Bihar”, Lalu said: “The MNS chief perhaps told our chief minister that he could come to Mumbai only if he hailed Maharashtra first. Nitish compromised with the feeling and the sentiment of Bihar just to make Raj happy.”