Several users have complained they have not been able to access the website of a Tamil digital magazine after the state BJP complained against a cartoon it uploaded depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting with his hands in chains opposite US President Donald Trump.

Ananda Vikatan, a 100-year-old magazine in the state, has claimed that its digital publication, Vikatan Plus, became inaccessible to several users across the state and outside on Saturday evening, hours after Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai said his party had complained to the Press Council of India and the Centre against the cartoon on Modi.

The cartoon was an apparent dig at Modi’s silence over Indian immigrants being deported in handcuffs and chains by the Trump administration.

However, there has been no official announcement from the Centre regarding the blocking of the website.

Accusing the Tamil magazine of being a “mouthpiece” of the ruling DMK, Annamalai said in a post on X that the BJP’s state unit had sent two representations to the Press Council of India and minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan, “seeking prompt action against the Vikatan magazine for publishing an offensive and baseless content against our Hon. PM Thiru Narendra Modi”.

Annamalai’s complaint dated February 15 termed the cartoon published by the digital magazine as its “cover picture” as a deliberate attempt to “paint a negative image of the entire diplomatic trip of our Hon. PM to please the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu”.

The Vikatan group in a statement said “as of now, there has been no official announcement from the central government regarding the blocking of the Vikatan website”.