Political cartoons in India: Rich legacy, hazy future

India political intolerance is leading to the sidelining of cartoonists

October 24 marked the 100th birth anniversary of renowned cartoonist R K Laxman,  whose creation “The Common Man” in You Said It, a daily strip published in a leading newspaper of India, seemed to resonate with all Indians as it evoked the problems or issues of the day, that most Indians connected with. When making his cartoons, Laxman did not pull his punches and often the message reached the top echelons of the government of the day.

In a famous incident, in 1962, when Laxman drew a cartoon targeting the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister called the cartoonist and requested an enlarged copy of the cartoon with Laxman’s autograph so that  he could frame it since he had enjoyed it tremendously.

Cartoons are a check on the law or policies of the government and the outcomes of its implementation. They could be ideal barometers of democracy and freedom of expression as most often the cartoonists target the government and its decisions.

Cartooning in India began during the colonial era. Exactly 100 years ago,  in March 1922,  Anandabazar Patrika, a daily based in Kolkata, published  its first cartoon.  It called for the resignation of Lord Montagu, the then Secretary of State for India in the British government. The early decades of independent India saw the rise of several political cartoonists like Laxman  which include P K S Kutty, Abu Abraham, O V Vijayan and Sudhir Dar. Most of them were inspired by  David Low, a British cartoonist and a pioneer in the cartooning world.

Laxman did not spare anyone, but his humour was always welcomed by the recipients. It was only during the Emergency in 1975-76, that his cartoons were not published. But soon after it was lifted, he came back, all guns blazing.

Leaders responded to cartoons differently in the past. For instance, DMK President M Karunanidhi would respond to cartoons against him by drawing ‘response’ cartoons himself, which in turn would be published in Murasoli, the DMK’s party organ. Unlike today, earlier, cartoons had reserved a special place on the front page of a newspaper. Cho Ramaswamy’s magazine Tughlak was famous for its political cartoons, the most famous being the one featuring donkeys on the cover. One of the oldest newspapers of Kerala Malayala Manorama has been giving place for its cartoon Kunju Kurup on the front page for decades.

However, even as India marks the centenary of its most famous cartoonist, the tables seem to have turned on the cartoonists, as they are increasingly being targetted by politicians.

No appetite for satire

Shakir Eravakkad is a noted political cartoonist in Kerala. Eravakkad feels that the freedom of expression through newspapers is getting increasingly restricted. “Cartoons act as a criticism on existing norms and conditions of the society, but in the present scenario whoever expresses it is getting bullied, targeted and suppressed,” Eravakkad tells Media India Group.

However, it is not only now that the politicians have turned hypersensitive. In late 1980s, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran was so rankled by the critical articles of Ananda Vikatan that he had its editor Balasubramanian arrested in April 1987 for publishing a cartoon. Jayalalithaa was also known to be clearly unhappy with cartoons, critical articles and editorials against her government and her decisions.

The crackdowns on critical cartoons has certainly intensified of late. In September 2017, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was arrested on sedition charges for a series that satirised widespread corruption in India. One of his cartoons showed the Parliament building as a lavatory buzzing with flies.  Trivedi’s website, www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com  hosting the cartoon was also blocked and he spent three years in court fighting his case. In 2018, Satish Acharya’s cartoon of Prime Minister Modi in the grip of China was also dropped by Mail Today Newspaper.

Shakir adds that most politicians may admit that they enjoy the cartoons made against them, but in reality it’s not the same.

Quoting the famous quote by Nehru who told cartoonist Shankar Pillai “Don’t spare me Shankar”, Shakir says today most politicians can’t really accept what has been portrayed through cartoons. “There was a time when the politicians had taken the wit and satire of cartoons in the right spirit. But now, cartoonists have been suppressed and attacked for their transparent observation and ability to highlight the issues that have been created. What keeps democracy alive is the transparency between its agents and the cartoonists no doubt are one of its agents,” says Shakir.

He believes that social media for cartoonists is a ‘mini gallery’ and the advent of social media has been a boost to the cartoonists because it gives them the right to express freely without any restriction from editorial policies. But unfortunately, in the world of memes, political cartoonists are finding it difficult to find their place and he believes that the meme culture has taken away a lot of space that they once owned.