From 바카라�Don바카라�t Spare Me바카라� To Sedition: How India Lost Its Sense Of Humour

In 1938, Keshav Shankar Pillai, a cartoonist for Hindustan Times received a postcard from Gandhi critiquing his work. It read: 바카라�If your cartoons바카라�do not speak accurately and cannot joke without offending, you will not rise high in your profession.바카라� The stern words from the Mahatma didn바카라�t stop Shankar as he is affectionately known, who since has been lauded as the country바카라�s pioneering political cartoonist. A decade later, India바카라�s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru famously told the cartoonist, 바카라�Don바카라�t spare me, Shankar.바카라� And Shankar didn바카라�t: he featured Nehru in over 4000 of his works. One famous cartoon by Shankar in Shankar바카라�s Weekly showed Nehru as a schoolboy being scolded by Mahatma Gandhi, illustrating his struggles in post-independence governance.

Flash forward to February 15, 2025. The website of the Tamil magazine Vikatan goes blank. This was in the aftermath of a cartoon published on its Vikatan Plus digital magazine showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a blue suit with his hands and legs fastened with chains, sitting next to US President Donald Trump. BJP's Tamil Nadu state unit president K. Annamalai had filed a complaint with the Press Council of India and the I&B Ministry against the nearly 100-year-old Vikatan Group and reportedly, central ministries moved quickly to force internet service providers to prevent access to the site.

This is only the latest in a long timeline of Indian political cartoonists getting lambasted and censored. 

Nehru바카라�s Veneer of Tolerance

Between 1947 when India got its independence and 1964, political cartoonists thrived in a nation that had been put together on promises of freedom of expression and democracy. 

Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, has been seen as largely tolerant towards political cartoons. Cartoonists of the time depicted Nehru as both an idealist and a leader struggling to balance varied political interests. 

However, by 1951, Nehru바카라�s personal stance of benign tolerance took a back seat to party politics, and the government introduced the First Amendment to the Constitution, restricting Article 19(2), freedom of speech and expression. The restrictions brought in by the first amendment including curbing any expression that could threaten public order, security, or relations with foreign states. Though it does not directly mention illustrations or cartoons, this amendment meant to introduce 바카라�reasonable restrictions바카라� became the basis a legal framework for censorship in the years to come.

The next year, the government filed a case of breach of privilege the news-weekly Blitz, the first of its kind in India. By 1953, the government had pressured the left-wing weekly, to tone down its political satire, particularly cartoons by R K Laxman and Shankar that mocked Nehru바카라�s economic policies and ties with the West. 

The Emergency and Indira Gandhi바카라�s Crackdown on Press Freedom

Between 1975 and 1977, Indira Gandhi바카라�s emergency rules cracked down on freedom of the press, and this included political cartoons. At the time, Gandhi instituted a pre-censorship system of newspapers바카라�every article and cartoon had to be cleared before publication.

At this time, some of India바카라�s most revered names in political cartoons struggled to get their works published, while others continued to criticise Gandhi, with dire consequences.

Shankar바카라�s Weekly, from where reportedly Indira Gandhi would access archives, choose a few Nehru cartoons, and frame and gift them to her father, shuttered its doors permanently. Officially, the cause for closure is a lack of funds, but it is widely accepted that the press freedom laws were to blame.

Abu Abraham, a political cartoonist for Indian Express, openly criticised the Emergency. His cartoon showing Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi flying in a jet marked 바카라�Constitution바카라� while throwing people out of it led to government backlash. India바카라�s famous Common Man cartoonist from The Times of India, R K Laxman바카라�s works were so often blocked during this time that the spaces meant for his work were often replaced with blank boxes in protest. Blank spaces, in fact, became symbols of censorship, as newspapers like The Indian Express and The Statesman would print an empty box where a censored cartoon or story was meant to appear.

The 90s Legal Battles 
The late '80s and '90s saw mega wars waged between the governments in power and the Indian media. 

In 1987, in the wake of the Bofors scandal, several newspapers published cartoons showing then-PM Rajiv Gandhi as corrupt. Though Rajiv Gandhi had projected himself as the moderniser of India, his government issued warnings to publications to remove the cartoons. Famously, R K Laxman바카라�s Bofors cartoon showing Gandhi shielding Italian businessman and accused in the scandal Ottavio Quattrocchi resulting in censure for Times Of India. 

In August 1988, Rajiv Gandhi introduced the Defamation Bill, aimed at curbing the press. This led to mass protests and eventually the then-PM had to withdraw the bill a few months later. 

With national newspapers under scrutiny, regional media took up the baton. State publications in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra saw a rise in cartoonists critiquing local leaders. Before founding the Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray was a political cartoonist in Marmik magazine.

During the 1990s, the government바카라�s tool to silence its political critics shifted to defamation cases. Several cartoonists faced legal threats when they depicted corruption within the government.

Drawing Sedition

One of the most infamous incidents of censorship was the arrest of Aseem Trivedi in 2012.

His Cartoons Against Corruption series, which criticised Indian politicians, was deemed offensive. He was charged with sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. His cartoons, particularly one showing India바카라�s national emblem with wolves instead of lions, were called 바카라�anti-national.바카라�

Trivedi바카라�s arrest led to widespread protests, and he was eventually released.

The Information Technology Act and Internet Censorship.

As digital media became more influential, the Indian government expanded its control.

The Information Technology (amendment) Act (2008) gave authorities the power to take down content deemed offensive. Social media companies, including Twitter (now X) and Facebook (Meta) now face legal requests to remove political cartoons.

The Modi Era 

Since Narendra Modi took office in 2014, there has been an increase in digital surveillance and censorship of political cartoons. In 2020, the Supreme Court issued notices against Rachita Taneja, creator of the webcomic Sanitary Panels, for her satirical drawings criticizing the judiciary. In 2021, the government asked Twitter to take down Manjul바카라�s cartoons criticising COVID-19 mismanagement. Cartoonists have been arrested or threatened under sedition laws (Section 124A) and UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) for criticising Modi바카라�s policies, particularly regarding CAA protests, the abrogation of Article 370, and the farmers바카라� protests. Satirists like G Bala were arrested in Tamil Nadu for depicting local politicians harshly.

Most recently, the Ananda Vikatan was put on notice after running a cartoon of PM Modi and Trump. Veteran cartoonist EP Unny has commented on this development and said, 바카라�our own traditions of satire to state categorically that the cartoonist has the right to ridicule, not just mock.바카라�