NO CARTOONS PLEASE, WE ARE INDIANS!

                                                         (Cartoon carried by The Hitavada newspaper Nagpur on 16-5-12)

Of late the Indian parliament has been debating on an issue concerning grave national importance. Impact of political cartoons on children! Obviously when we club the two words namely politics and children together, it causes deep concern and fear in our minds. No Indian would want our children to be influenced by our politicians. We do not want the future of this country to be jeopardized. Let ours be the last generation to suffer these pigmies’s impersonating as men. Please, let us spare the kids. Even though this was my initial reaction, on further going through the debates I realized that I am not on the same page as our honorable and wise Members of Parliament. How silly of me not to grasp that by viewing political cartoons which are critical of the politicians, the minds of our children will be biased. How dumb of me not to realize that our children will grow up with a preconceived notion that the politicians are a stupid lot.

How amazing! How convenient! These politicians trying to tell the country that they are all sincere and honest and inspite of their best intentions the media and the cartoonists are hell bent upon creating a bad impression about them. Are they trying to tell the country that this is all smoke without any fire?

Should the Members of Parliament be spending public money on debating such issues? Instead they could really all work with a selfless heart for the benefit of each and every citizen. It is this lack of right efforts that is bothering me; it is this wrong focus of cunning efforts that is bothering me. My annoyance is also because a trivial issue is being treated as crucial.  These politicians won’t raise a finger to polish their image but will raise their hands to bring it down upon those who show them the mirror.  It is only these politicians who are concerned about the cartoons because they don’t bother about performance, instead if they really worked hard then the entire country will no longer have any chance to view such cartoons. Can’t they realize such a simple thing?

The ruckus in the Parliament was raised on a four decade old cartoon about politicians who are dead and gone and reportedly were not affected by it. Recently there was another din in the West Bengal state government over a cartoon depicting the chief Minister in poor light and the cartoonist was packed away to prison. Cartoons are meant to lighten the hardships of life. They are meant to laugh at ourselves and our problems. Today if the politicians are our problems and when we have graciously accepted this fact of life, how can the politicians deny it? The whole debate sounded like a live cartoon to me.