Tweeted before-and-after photos of Salish Acharya’s disappearing cartoon
Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya has had one of his cartoons — displayed on a hoarding at what has become known as “Cartoon Corner” in the city of Kundapura — removed by order of the local municipality. The cartoon shows Congress Party VP Rahul Gandhi cowering behind another politician as Prime Minister Norenda Modi of the ruling BJP party looms over them.
“After I had put this cartoon up, a local Congress leader called me up to suggest that I should remove it as it is offensive,” Acharya told a reporter from News18. “The very next day, Kundapura municipality removed it on the pretext of clearing the city of billboards. The Congress should be worried about the challenges before the party. It should not be afraid of a harmless cartoon.”
The head of the Congress Party in Karnataka state denied any Congress Party involvement in the cartoon’s removal. A spokesperson for Kundapura municipality said that the removal was part of a city-wide beautification drive.
Last year Forbes magazine named cartoonist Satish Acharya to a list of “thinkers who best explain a rapidly-changing India to the world (and the world to India).”