Article first published as Indian Politics: More Cartoons Out Of The Cupboard! on Technorati.
The cartoon was
first published in 1949. It was esthetically done and genuinely humorous.
Therefore, it was included in Indian textbooks meant for eleventh standard school
students in 2006 to make education informative as well as enjoyable. After 63
years from first publication and 6 years from inclusion in textbooks the
‘issue’ of the cartoon rocked and disrupted the Indian Parliament on May 11,
2012. The reason or motivation seemed to be obvious—to embarrass the tottering
ruling coalition further in light of impending General Elections of 2014.
The cartoon
involved two all-time greats in Indian history. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar,
popularly known as Babasaheb, donned the role of a real father of the
Indian Constitution and fought tirelessly for the Dalits or the
Untouchables or the oppressed all his life. Belonging to a backward caste of Maharashtra he struggled at every stage of his life to
rise to eminence as a sociopolitical reformer, scholar-philosopher,
writer-editor and a leader-politician. His immense contribution to the
liberation of the Dalit communities from social discrimination made him
almost a God or an Avatar (incarnation of God) for them particularly
after his demise. His birth anniversary on April 14 and death anniversary on
December 6 are huge events in Mumbai and other places of Maharashtra
with millions offering prayers and respects. Dr. Ambedkar has also been
posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990—the highest civilian honor
in India.
The second
personality involved in the cartoon was Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru—the first Prime
Minister of India and one of
the path-breakers for the emergence of India as a modern developing
nation.
And not the least, the cartoonist Shankar Pillai has also been
recognized as the father of political cartooning in India
and he was the recipient of the second highest civilian honor of India.
Now, the said cartoon
draws a picture of Dr. Ambedkar—the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the
Indian Constitution-- sitting on a lump named ‘Constitution’ kept on the back
of a snail brandishing a whip. Behind him stands Jawaharlal Nehru—the then
Prime Minister—in action with a whip too. Apparently, both are trying to speed
up the process of drafting that for a country like India
was the most challenging job, because it had to satisfy all ethnically,
culturally and linguistically diverse states and people of independent India. The humor was pulsating as the helplessness
was vivid. Both Ambedkar and Nehru must have enjoyed it a lot at that time.
But at the
present time all interpretations had to go political. ‘Nehru whipping
Ambedkar!’, ‘Insult to Babasaheb!’, ‘Babasaheb cannot sit in
front of a whipping Nehru!’, ‘Insult to all Dalits of India!’ and so on cutting across all opposition
political parties of India.
The panicky government had to announce the immediate withdrawal of the
concerned textbooks from markets and removal of the cartoon next.
Basic questions never
got answered. Why opposition now and not in 1949 or after 2006? What were the
‘affected’ or ‘insulted’ parties doing all the while? Was it a reaction to the
ouster of Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh? A dress rehearsal for General
Elections 2014? Or taking on a cue from
the merciless Mamata’s tirade against creative intellectuals and
cartoonists? As for the larger Dalit
masses political leadership and influence had been the mainstay of their
existence in recent years and basically, maybe, they could never accept the
spectacle of their God sitting in front of a whipping ‘master’.
The oft repeated
zero tolerance for terror or corruption has been increasingly infiltrating
creative fields in India
which is ominous!
Taking intolerance
to a shocking level one breakaway group of the Republican Party of India today attacked
and vandalized the office of Suhas Palshikar in Pune, Maharashtra.
Palshikar was one of the two advisers to the National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT) who resigned yesterday over the controversy.
NCERT is the apex body of school education in India and these two advisers were
in the Textbook Developing Committee. Palshikar and his colleague maintained
that the controversy was totally unnecessary and that there was no insult to
Babasaheb Ambedkar. There should have been a nationwide debate on this issue
concerning a legendary personality for whom they themselves had the highest
respect, they added.
