With nobody listening, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi ends fast

Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was recently arrested under sedition charges as well as Sec 66A of the Information Technology Act for his controversial cartoons, on Saturday ended his eight-day fast demanding immediate scrapping of the "unconstitutional" law.

Trivedi, who was on a fast for the past eight days at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, ended the protest after Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal requested him not to waste his life and rather work towards "uprooting this government".

Trivedi and his colleague Alok Dikshit ended their agitation after Kejriwal gave them a glass of juice at the protest site.

Kejriwal's presence at the fast site is significant because Trivedi had earlier opposed the activist's entry into politics.

However, Trivedi on Saturday said he feels the move was right.

"We tried a lot to put forth our point in front of the government but they didn't listen to us. The country needs a political option," he said.

Alleging that the government has turned a deaf ear towards people, Kejriwal said the only way left is to shunt it out.

"The youth of this country are fighting for their freedom of expression. Section 66A of the IT Act is totally unconstitutional and youth have been wrongly arrested under this law. At least, the government could have listened to them," Kejriwal said.

Noting that the government did not talk to them when they launched a fast in August, Kejriwal asked youngsters "not to waste their lives like this."

"Our motive should rather be to throw out this government and we should work unanimously in that direction," he said.

Trivedi insisted that there was a need to repeal the Act and alleged that the government was behaving like "Taliban".

"We were following the Gandhian way of revolt but nobody paid heed to us. I don't think we need such representatives who don't listen to people," Trivedi, who was arrested in September under sedition charges for his cartoons, said.

Kejriwal alleged that Trivedi and Dikshit were not allowed to meet Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal, and the duo were arrested.