It wasn’t too long ago when we saw Mamata Banerjee lose her cool over a cartoon. Recently, another cartoon on B.R. Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, which was surprisingly unnoticed till now, as it was included in NCERT textbooks in 2006, has created a major stir in the Parliament.
Also, an extremist group allegedly attacked former NCERT adviser Professor Suhas Palshikar’s Pune University office over the row on this 63-year-old cartoon of Ambdekar. Does such intolerance indicate that our top administrators and bureaucrats are still not ready to take satire with a pinch of salt? Are we getting touchy about certain issues? We find out.
After the cartoon row in Parliament, renowned cartoonist Sudhir Tailang tweeted, “Have our MPs lost the plot totally!? They have no time for the real issues. A cartoon by the legendary Shankar Pillai offends them!!?Shame!” He further added, “What is wrong with us cartoonists! I thought we were an endangered species anyway! I These guys want us extinct at once?”
Rahul da Cunha, famous ad-maker and playwright, mentions how his team created the famous Amul ad on Mamata’s anti-cartoon incident, but they couldn’t release it in Kolkata. He says, “I feel we were more liberal in the 70s and 80s, where politicians were more open to cartoons and jokes. We have become more intolerant and what worries me is that even though we live in a democratic country we can’t express ourselves freely. We are too scared to touch any issues related to politics or politicians.”
“A person who does not taking humour in the right spirit and makes an issue out of it is a bigger cartoon. There are so many important issues about which our politicians keep mum, but they always have a strong opinion about petty issues like cartoons. It doesn’t reflect the attitude of all Indians, just a select few,” says Anamika, a media professional.
Raghav Mandava, a stand-up comedian, thinks that the younger generation doesn’t mind humour and they are open to a lot of issues that older people don’t discuss openly. He says, “I crack a lot of offensive jokes on issues like death, sex, etc. People don’t mind at all. But as a comedian I don’t touch sensitive issues like politics because some politicians are too insecure.”
However, Karan Singh, a brand marketing professional, explains that Indians are sensitive and that’s why most advertisers shy away from humour. He says, “Our society is more inclined towards emotions and as advertisers we refrain from anything that could upset any section of the society. Politicians represent homogenous pockets of our country, so any joke or sarcasm on them usually doesn’t go well with their followers.”