Nails in the cartoon coffin

The Join or Die is perhaps the worldrsquos most influential political cartoon Published on May 9 1754 the cartoon soon became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War The cartoon had a huge impact on America and was widely used by various newspapers in the US Devised by Benjamin Franklin one of the founding fathers of the United States to emphasize union of American colonies experts say that the Join or Die was one of the most popular cartoons in American history On May 9 2012 Americarsquos first political cartoon completed 258 years While newspapers in the US and then Great Britain provided political cartoonists their rightful share of recognition and fame political cartoons in India is a relatively a new phenomenon mostly post independence Father of Cartooning Shankar who drew the Babasaheb Ambedkar cartoon is hailed as lsquothe father of cartooning in Indiarsquo according to the Indian Institute of Cartoonists IIC an organization in Bangalore established with the aim of promoting the art of cartooning in the country VG Narendra Managing Trustee of IIC who directly worked with Shankar recollects ldquoWhile I was studying in school I was inspired by Shankarrsquos cartoons published in Shankarrsquos Weekly Indiarsquos first journal of political cartoons I contributed political cartoons to daily newspapers while I was studying in college After my graduation I went to Mumbai in search for a job I started contributing my political cartoons to Free Press Journal FPJ in Mumbai One day the Advertising Manager of FPJ told me that during his recent visit to New Delhi he met Shankar and that he appreciated my political cartoons published on the front page of FPJ I wrote to Shankar Shankar later sent a message asking me to meet him at his office I went to New Delhi and met him at Shankarrsquos Weekly office I also worked with him for a week and drew many political cartoons Then Shankar asked me to contribute political cartoons regularly for Shankarrsquos Weekly I started sending my cartoons from Mumbai and they used to appear in Shankarrsquos Weekly regularly After six months he asked me to join him Then I went to New Delhi to join Shankarrsquos Weekly and learnt a lot about cartoons while working with him I canrsquot forget those memorable moments When Shankarrsquos Weekly was closed down in 1975 because of Emergency I came down to Bangalore to join Samyukta Karnataka a popular Kannada Daily In fact Shankar39s Weekly had become a launching pad for many cartoonistsrdquo Then and Now The Emergency period spelt doom for political cartoons in India Yet again it is a tumultuous time for political cartoonists in the country Lately cartoons have invited the ire of a few political leaders in the country First a Jadavpur University professor was arrested for allegedly spreading ldquoantiMamata Banerjeerdquo cartoons through Internet A few days ago the Parliament was disrupted over a cartoon done by Shankar in 1949 which shows Ambedkar seated on a snail named Constitution and Jawaharlal Nehru whipping it from behind While many political leaders have suggested that the lsquooffensiversquo cartoon be removed from the National Council of Educational Research and Training NCERT book others want a ban on the book itself Many political cartoonists in India feel that quite a few events this year point towards something dangerous for the cartooning industry ldquoIt is the beginning of the end for political cartoons in Indiardquo laments Prasannan Anickad President of the Kerala Cartoon Academy About the recent row over Shankarrsquos cartoon VG Narendra clarifies ldquoThe cartoon was drawn 63 years ago with good intention and with good wit and humour The row is surely a blow to Indian democracy and freedom of expression It is very unfortunate and uncalled for Politicians are becoming intolerant to cartoons nowadaysrdquo Freedom of Speech While most cartoonists maintain that a backlash or ban from political leaders will not deter them from doing their job some feel that the fear is bound to creep in eventually Prabhakar Wairkar cartoonist said ldquoTo help cartoonists the common man and intellectuals should come forward and strongly react against any form of dictatorship Otherwise the future of political cartoonists is quite bleak in our country Earlier newspapers had cartoons on their front pages We donrsquot see this happening anymore as publications too fear a backlash from various political groups Hence they donrsquot take chances If politicians continue to behave in an undemocratic manner I fear that no one will be able to draw a cartoon of any political leader The downfall of the cartooning industry especially political cartoons has already begun The political atmosphere is the country is not conducive to the growth of political cartoonistsrdquo Perhaps this is the reason why young cartoonists prefer to draw social cartoons over political cartoons ldquoIn social cartoons one has more freedom and the fear of a backlash is much lessrdquo said Wairkar With the common man R K Laxman at the IIC Gallery On the Ambedkar cartoon row Wairkar said ldquoCartoons are bound to be exaggerated witty and humourous Otherwise it is not a cartoon at all The recent cartoon row was aimed at curbing the freedom of expression and that is why Shankarrsquos cartoon was blown out of proportionrdquo B G Gujarappa who has spent 30 years in the industry said in a telephonic interview from Bangalore ldquoEarlier politicians were enlightened and civilized but this is not the case todayrdquo He further added ldquoHardly any newspaper encourages cartoonists nowadays A cartoonist is also a writer and an illustrator To think of an idea and replicate it on a sheet of paper requires a lot of effort and we want people to recognize that effort We need to respect every individual expression as we live in a democratic country I would urge people to prevent the Talibanisation of Indiardquo u00a0Sudheer Nath a cartoonist in Delhi whose cartoon on Mayawati irked Bahujan Samaj Party BSP workers believes that politicians have a habit of taking things out of context ldquoThe parliamentarians who raised the issue had no idea about the cartoonist or the context of the cartoon Hence one cannot reason with themrdquou00a0Despite cartoonists saying that death of political cartoons is imminent there are a few optimists who still believe that threats or disapproval will not act as a deterrent V G Narendra believes that cartoonists are relentless ldquoThe real cartoonist is not afraid of any backlash and he will go on tickling the funny bone with his sharp wit and humourrdquou00a0 On display A picture taken on May 15 2012 shows American cartoonist Kevin KAL Kallaugher gesturing next to his drawings during an exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest Political cartoons are ldquoon the frontline of freedomrdquo as recent attacks on cartoonists in Iran and Syria showed said famous American cartoonist Kevin KAL Kallaugher PicAFP Cartoon row gtgt Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested April 13 after he circulated 39defamatory39 cartoons of some Trinamool Congress leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee The professor had circulated the mail by using the registered mail id of his housing society Mahapatra39s arrest had evoked severe criticism from all quarters while many others chose social networking sites to vent their ire by ridiculing the Banerjee government for the police action The collage allegedly includes photographs of Banerjee and Railway Minister Mukul Roy It also uses some dialogues of Satyajit Ray39s detective masterpiece on celluloid 39Sonar Kella39 showing the duo discussing how to get rid of Dinesh Trivedi who was forced by Banerjee to give up the railways portfolio gtgt A cartoon on B R Ambedkar in an NCERT textbook rocked both Houses of Parliament prompting the government to apologise and order the removal of the quotobjectionablequot sketch As Opposition leaders created an uproar over the cartoon Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said he was not personally responsible for the row but had quotno hesitation in apologising to the nationquot He said a committee formed by his ministry was already reviewing all such quotobjectionable matters in textbooksquot The cartoon first published in 1960s by renowned cartoonist Shankar in his weekly magazine and reproduced in NCERT Class XI political science textbooks depicts Jawaharlal Nehru with a whip in his hand chasing Ambedkar who is seated on a snail In the cartoon Nehru is asking Ambedkar to speed up the work on the Constitution Outside the house Communist Party of India member D Raja who had given a notice to raise the issue in the Zero Hour expressed surprise over the cartoon finding a place in the book and not coming to the notice of the government for long quotIt the cartoon is being published in this book since 2006quot said Raja mdashAgencies