Professor's office vandalised over cartoon
Activists belonging to the Republican Panthers Party on Saturday vandalised the office of Pune University professor Suhas Palshikar over his defence of the controversial caricature of B.R. Ambedkar in an NCERT Class XI textbook. Palshikar had on Friday put in his papers as an NCERT adviser after MPs cutting across party lines demanded the withdrawal of the 'insulting' cartoon. Four attackers from the party came to Palshikar's office in the university around 1 pm, allegedly at his own behest, to discuss the issue. 'I tried to dispel their concerns. We spoke for 5-10 minutes, after which they suddenly started raising slogans on Babasaheb Ambedkar and vandalising my office,' Palshikar said. But he added that the men didn't attack him. While the police have arrested two of the culprits, two others are on the run. 'I really don't want the men to be punished because they didn't know what they were arguing about. Those who sent them (leaders of the outfit) should be approached and a dialogue initiated to remove their misgivings,' he said. Funnily enough, Palshikar's assertion that the attackers were not well-versed with the issue proved true when Sachin Kharat, chief of the RPI admitted he hadn't yet seen the cartoon.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2143662/Professors-office-vandalised-cartoon-Ambedkar.html#ixzz1uj7XP4iy
'Our Duty To Dissent' : Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar's Letter of resignation
'We think that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards its future generations'
Prof. Parvin Sinclair; Director, NCERT
Subject: Resignation as Chief Advisers (Pol Sc)
Dear Professor Sinclair, ... we believe that it is our duty to point out that the parliamentary consensus unsettles some fundamental canons of democratic society...Allow us to place on record some of the facts that we had drawn your attention to in our communication of April 3rd (attached here):
The said textbook was published in 2006, has been taught since then and so far has received appreciation from various quarters; scholars, educationists and students. These books represented a new approach to textbook writing and departed from the formal and dry text of the earlier textbooks. A large number of cartoons and photographs have been used to make the books lively and interactive. Mostly these are classic cartoons of the time concerned and naturally depict famous personalities of the time, including Gandhiji, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Pandit Nehru. The cartoon on page 18 is by the famous cartoonist Shankar. This is a cartoon not done for the textbook but published at the time when the Constituent Assembly was working. To our mind, it does not denigrate Dr Ambedkar. Cartoon, like any art form, makes use of symbols and it would be a travesty of art if its symbolism were to be taken literally.
It is ironic that this example has been picked up to paint these textbooks as anti-Dalit and against Babasaheb. However, the text on pages 17 and 18 amply elaborates why the making of the constitution took considerable time and what procedures were followed by the Assembly. It is also explained that deliberation and consensus were the key elements of Constitution making. In no way does the text or the cartoon denigrate or downplay the contribution of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Since this textbook is in continuation of the Standard IX and X textbooks, it assumes the knowledge about the role and contribution of Dr Amebdkar. In Standard IX textbook, on page 48, Dr Amebdkar’s role is explained and also a quotation from his speech is given for students to better understand his approach. It may also be mentioned that the Textbook had gone through a very detailed scrutiny and finally was also vetted by a Monitoring Committee co-chaired by Professors Mrinal Miri and G.P. Deshpande. The national Monitoring Committee included among others, Professors Gopal Guru and Zoya Hasan of JNU. Before publication the textbook was also reviewed by many eminent scholars and was highly appreciated for its balanced treatment and student-friendly structure. Given all the facts stated above, we think that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards it future generations. While deferring to the supremacy of the Parliament we think it is our duty to dissent. Please treat this letter as a letter of resignation and relieve us of our responsibilities with immediate effect. In view of the larger public issues involved here, we are releasing this letter to the media. We also attach our earlier communication to you dated April 3rd which clarifies all facts of the case.... Yogendra Yadav, Suhas Palshikar, May 11, 2012
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280899#.T66UE3COwr0.facebook
**********************************************************
NB: In the past few months (leaving aside the past many years), we have seen: Rohinton Mistry's book removed from the Mumbai University literature syllabus at the orders of the Shiv Sena, A.K. Ramanujan's brilliant essay Three Hundred Ramayana's removed from the reading list of the Delhi University history syllabus by the Academic Council, at the orders of the Sangh Parivar; a post-doctoral research proposal concerning Salman Rushdie's work being sabotaged by the Deoband Ulema; and the intellectual Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Rationalist International, being charged with offending religious sentiments because he demonstrated that the 'holy water' dripping from an icon of Jesus was leaking from a nearby drain. The disgusting display of communal threats at the Jaipur Literature festival is well known enough.
The dangerous feature of such (increasingly common) events of moral policing, is not the dispute over the content, it is the climate of intimidation that has come to hover over our intellectual life. The demands of the so-called representatives of whosoever is 'hurt' often comes with thinly veiled or open threats of violence, and often results in hooliganism, as in the case of the ransacking of the Bhandarkar Institute Library in 2004 (with the loss of priceless manuscripts) by the Sambhaji Brigade, simply because the historian James Lane had used its resources.
(See also: Burning of the Jaffna Public Library, May 1981
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/sri-lanka-thirty-one-years-after.html ;
and: The Destruction of books in Sarajevo, 1992
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/destruction-of-books-in-sarajevo-april.html )
Every such act of intimidation, in whatever 'religious' disguise it appears, is a blow against democratic values, our constitutional rights of free speech & thought; and a step taken towards a totalitarian polity. We are faced with a revival of the culture of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was the name given to so-called "fight against heretics" launched by the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century. It started the practice of using torture to extract confessions from suspected heretics. Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmine (1542-1621) was the Inquisitor who presided over the trial that condemned Giordano Bruno to be burnt at the stake for heresy in 1600; and who in 1616 ordered Galileo to abandon the Copernican doctrine of the mobility of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun. For those who need reminding that the Inquisition is still with us, here's the epitaph on Cardinal Bellarmine's tomb: "With force I have subdued the brains of the proud"
Down with hurt sentiment! Long live blasphemy! - Dilip
PS: Many classics of world literature and religion contain passages that might hurt someone or other's 'sentiments'. These include the Bible, the Koran, the Tulsidas Ramayana, Dayanand Saraswati's Satyarth Prakash, the Manusmriti, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, T. S. Eliot's poetry, etc. (Some years ago there was indeed a demand voiced for banning Dante's 'Divine Comedy'). Schoolchildren using the NCERT textbooks would be justified if they used electronic and print media to campaign in defence of academic freedom and their right to read critical material. A message needs to be sent to the political establishment that young minds have not yet been corrupted by the politics of so-called 'hurt sentiment' & that society's interest is not served by elevating ignorance to the level of public virtue: Dilip
***********************************************************************
MORE LINKS: (click the titles)
India's God laws fail the test of reason
Everyone forgot the Snail
Toon trouble: Why Dalits prefer the Ambedkar myth to reality
"...the more interesting idea to contemplate is why some individuals acquire the status of prophets about whom nothing even remotely critical can ever be said or implied.Ambedkar’s tryst with prophethood has clearly begun. In due course, he will be up there with the Buddha as the most important prophet of the Dalits. Never mind if he isn’t the Ambedkar we know from his writings. Falsification of truth & the mythification of historical personalities is vital for power..."
Attack an insult to Dr Ambedkar, by Dr Hari Narke, Professor and Head of the Mahatma Phule Chair, University of Pune and member, Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission)
"...it would have been welcome had the objection to Shankar’s cartoon come via the same or similar medium instead of a violent attack. Having said that, it must be remembered that Dr Ambedkar himself had seen the cartoon in question, and had not objected to it. Dr Ambedkar was sporting by nature, and he knew how to respect opponents’ ideology. Now, political stunts are being used to gain instant publicity. It is damaging for the progressive movement to indulge in such violent means when we have the constitutional recourse of expressing differences of opinion with Prof Palshikar and Yadav. The point is open to debate whether this cartoon, which was drawn and published in 1949, is obsolete and putting it in a textbook is out of context. But such attacks close the routes to debate, which is the more untoward development. Discussion is the wealth of democracy. That is why, as a worker of the Phule-Ambedkar movement and as a teacher as well, I condemn this ghastly act. I also appeal to all not to close the doors to debate and discussion and to not shrink the vast expanse of Phule’s and Ambedkar’s thoughts..." Dr Hari Narke
Let’s look within, says one MP who didn’t join the mob
National Conference MP from Baramulla Sharifuddin Shariq was the lone dissenting voice in the Lok Sabha today where MPs closed ranks demanding the removal of cartoons of politicians in NCERT textbooks for political science. Not surprisingly, his voice was drowned out. Ironically, not one MP attacked the vandalisation of political scientist Suhas Palshikar’s office in Pune University on Saturday. Palshikar was one of the advisors for the Class XI textbook that contained the 1949 cartoon of Nehru and Ambedkar over which the MPs created an uproar last Friday. When Shariq urged MPs against going overboard in their criticism of cartoons, his speech was disrupted by MPs from SP and Congress sitting next to him. “We have ourselves given cartoonists the chance to make cartoons on us. Instead of criticising the cartoons, we should do some introspection. It is a reflection of what we have done and a reaction to it,” Shariq said. “Is it not a reality that when one becomes an MP or an MLA for the second time, they become richer? Their assets (submitted to Election Commission before elections) show considerable increase?” “It was unfortunate that I was disrupted. It is because of the lack of tolerance that I was not heard. But democracy requires tolerance to hear all voices,” Shariq later told The Indian Express.
Salman Rushdie On Censorship
Cartoon row has academics bemused
The political uproar caught former NCERT director Krishna Kumar unawares. "I am totally puzzled by the reaction. The textbooks have been approved through due processes. All textbooks have been approved by the National Monitoring Committee appointed by the HRD ministry that includes several civil servants, experts, academicians and mediapersons. It is being taught in 15 states of very different political ideologies for the last five years only because the books are of very high quality," he said. The last book, Indian Constitution at Work is what caused the furore over a cartoon that's been in existence since 1949 but was never a subject of controversy. On Monday, another NCERT book, Democratic Politics 1, prescribed for Class IX, was also criticized in Parliament for another set of cartoons. The textbooks were developed in 2005 to 2007 by Textbook Development Committees constituted by the NCERT, and chaired by experts in the concerned areas. In case of political science and social science, it was chaired by Prof Hari Vasudevan and the chief advisors were Prof Suhas Palshikar and Prof Yogendra Yadav. These textbooks were placed before the National Monitoring Committee chaired by Prof Mrinal Miri and Prof G P Deshpande and consisting of representatives of state governments and educational experts from across the country. It was only after the approval of the committee that the textbooks were released from 2006 onwards. It is the same set of academics who were celebrated for the innovation in enriching the books with cartoons as a device to provide students respite from bland texts. The sense of betrayal among academics is palpable as nobody in the ministry is stepping forward to defend them who only carried out their brief.
Save the classroom from the political class: by SUHAS PALSHIKAR
When an emotional issue erupts in the public domain, argument becomes difficult and secondary to decision-making. That is what happened over the controversy regarding the inclusion of a cartoon depicting Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in a class XI textbook. One self-proclaimed inheritor and interpreter of Dr. Ambedkar's legacy ensured the debate could not even enter the realm of reason by comparing him to the Prophet. Such persons have done immense harm to the Ambedkar legacy of critique — remember that he not only sought to critique and demolish Hinduism or Gandhi's ideas; he even sought to critique and recreate Buddhism... But now the controversy has become wider.. When Parliament.. almost in one voice, reprimands the inclusion of cartoons in political science textbooks, is there any scope for reason? Thus, in either case, argument is the casualty... Besides the purported denigration of Dr. Ambedkar, five other issues have now emerged and need to be argued, debated and resolved both in the academic realm and the public realm more generally..
A Student's Petition against the Banning
Funny days, dark nights
R K Laxman, arguably India's best known and loved cartoonists, says in his book Tunnel of Time that he started drawing Britain's Harold Wilson because nothing he made on India or its politicians was cleared by the censors. That meant almost everything that wasn't fawning or fake made it to print. A Laxman cartoon that showed a lady in high heels was seen as a blatant attempt to mock Indira Gandhi. "I was warned," he says in the book, "that if I continued to indulge in this sort of disruptive activity through my cartoons, I would regret it." Kamala, his wife, now says Laxman was so upset with the press censorship that the couple decided to go on a long holiday. "We went to Mauritius for a month and when we came back the Janata Party government had assumed power," she reminisces.. Cartooning has never been an easy job in India. The political fiasco around the B R Ambedkar cartoon in an NCERT book is merely a case in point. No one in this country likes it when the joke is on them. It's funny only when the neighbour slips on the banana peel. And with its myriad sensitivities , a cacophony of cultures, a multiplicity of faiths and a mesh of castes, one never knows who will take offence at what. Thirty years into the trade, Ajit Ninan, who is now with The Times of India, says that unlike their ilk in the rest of the world, cartoonists here are forever apprehensive. He should know. He had to profusely apologise once for hurting Hindu sentiments and another time for making Christians unhappy...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2143662/Professors-office-vandalised-cartoon-Ambedkar.html#ixzz1uj7XP4iy
'Our Duty To Dissent' : Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar's Letter of resignation
'We think that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards its future generations'
Prof. Parvin Sinclair; Director, NCERT
Subject: Resignation as Chief Advisers (Pol Sc)
Dear Professor Sinclair, ... we believe that it is our duty to point out that the parliamentary consensus unsettles some fundamental canons of democratic society...Allow us to place on record some of the facts that we had drawn your attention to in our communication of April 3rd (attached here):
The said textbook was published in 2006, has been taught since then and so far has received appreciation from various quarters; scholars, educationists and students. These books represented a new approach to textbook writing and departed from the formal and dry text of the earlier textbooks. A large number of cartoons and photographs have been used to make the books lively and interactive. Mostly these are classic cartoons of the time concerned and naturally depict famous personalities of the time, including Gandhiji, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Pandit Nehru. The cartoon on page 18 is by the famous cartoonist Shankar. This is a cartoon not done for the textbook but published at the time when the Constituent Assembly was working. To our mind, it does not denigrate Dr Ambedkar. Cartoon, like any art form, makes use of symbols and it would be a travesty of art if its symbolism were to be taken literally.
It is ironic that this example has been picked up to paint these textbooks as anti-Dalit and against Babasaheb. However, the text on pages 17 and 18 amply elaborates why the making of the constitution took considerable time and what procedures were followed by the Assembly. It is also explained that deliberation and consensus were the key elements of Constitution making. In no way does the text or the cartoon denigrate or downplay the contribution of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Since this textbook is in continuation of the Standard IX and X textbooks, it assumes the knowledge about the role and contribution of Dr Amebdkar. In Standard IX textbook, on page 48, Dr Amebdkar’s role is explained and also a quotation from his speech is given for students to better understand his approach. It may also be mentioned that the Textbook had gone through a very detailed scrutiny and finally was also vetted by a Monitoring Committee co-chaired by Professors Mrinal Miri and G.P. Deshpande. The national Monitoring Committee included among others, Professors Gopal Guru and Zoya Hasan of JNU. Before publication the textbook was also reviewed by many eminent scholars and was highly appreciated for its balanced treatment and student-friendly structure. Given all the facts stated above, we think that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards it future generations. While deferring to the supremacy of the Parliament we think it is our duty to dissent. Please treat this letter as a letter of resignation and relieve us of our responsibilities with immediate effect. In view of the larger public issues involved here, we are releasing this letter to the media. We also attach our earlier communication to you dated April 3rd which clarifies all facts of the case.... Yogendra Yadav, Suhas Palshikar, May 11, 2012
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280899#.T66UE3COwr0.facebook
**********************************************************
NB: In the past few months (leaving aside the past many years), we have seen: Rohinton Mistry's book removed from the Mumbai University literature syllabus at the orders of the Shiv Sena, A.K. Ramanujan's brilliant essay Three Hundred Ramayana's removed from the reading list of the Delhi University history syllabus by the Academic Council, at the orders of the Sangh Parivar; a post-doctoral research proposal concerning Salman Rushdie's work being sabotaged by the Deoband Ulema; and the intellectual Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Rationalist International, being charged with offending religious sentiments because he demonstrated that the 'holy water' dripping from an icon of Jesus was leaking from a nearby drain. The disgusting display of communal threats at the Jaipur Literature festival is well known enough.
The dangerous feature of such (increasingly common) events of moral policing, is not the dispute over the content, it is the climate of intimidation that has come to hover over our intellectual life. The demands of the so-called representatives of whosoever is 'hurt' often comes with thinly veiled or open threats of violence, and often results in hooliganism, as in the case of the ransacking of the Bhandarkar Institute Library in 2004 (with the loss of priceless manuscripts) by the Sambhaji Brigade, simply because the historian James Lane had used its resources.
(See also: Burning of the Jaffna Public Library, May 1981
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/sri-lanka-thirty-one-years-after.html ;
and: The Destruction of books in Sarajevo, 1992
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/destruction-of-books-in-sarajevo-april.html )
Every such act of intimidation, in whatever 'religious' disguise it appears, is a blow against democratic values, our constitutional rights of free speech & thought; and a step taken towards a totalitarian polity. We are faced with a revival of the culture of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was the name given to so-called "fight against heretics" launched by the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century. It started the practice of using torture to extract confessions from suspected heretics. Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmine (1542-1621) was the Inquisitor who presided over the trial that condemned Giordano Bruno to be burnt at the stake for heresy in 1600; and who in 1616 ordered Galileo to abandon the Copernican doctrine of the mobility of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun. For those who need reminding that the Inquisition is still with us, here's the epitaph on Cardinal Bellarmine's tomb: "With force I have subdued the brains of the proud"
Down with hurt sentiment! Long live blasphemy! - Dilip
PS: Many classics of world literature and religion contain passages that might hurt someone or other's 'sentiments'. These include the Bible, the Koran, the Tulsidas Ramayana, Dayanand Saraswati's Satyarth Prakash, the Manusmriti, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, T. S. Eliot's poetry, etc. (Some years ago there was indeed a demand voiced for banning Dante's 'Divine Comedy'). Schoolchildren using the NCERT textbooks would be justified if they used electronic and print media to campaign in defence of academic freedom and their right to read critical material. A message needs to be sent to the political establishment that young minds have not yet been corrupted by the politics of so-called 'hurt sentiment' & that society's interest is not served by elevating ignorance to the level of public virtue: Dilip
***********************************************************************
MORE LINKS: (click the titles)
India's God laws fail the test of reason
Everyone forgot the Snail
Toon trouble: Why Dalits prefer the Ambedkar myth to reality
"...the more interesting idea to contemplate is why some individuals acquire the status of prophets about whom nothing even remotely critical can ever be said or implied.Ambedkar’s tryst with prophethood has clearly begun. In due course, he will be up there with the Buddha as the most important prophet of the Dalits. Never mind if he isn’t the Ambedkar we know from his writings. Falsification of truth & the mythification of historical personalities is vital for power..."
Attack an insult to Dr Ambedkar, by Dr Hari Narke, Professor and Head of the Mahatma Phule Chair, University of Pune and member, Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission)
"...it would have been welcome had the objection to Shankar’s cartoon come via the same or similar medium instead of a violent attack. Having said that, it must be remembered that Dr Ambedkar himself had seen the cartoon in question, and had not objected to it. Dr Ambedkar was sporting by nature, and he knew how to respect opponents’ ideology. Now, political stunts are being used to gain instant publicity. It is damaging for the progressive movement to indulge in such violent means when we have the constitutional recourse of expressing differences of opinion with Prof Palshikar and Yadav. The point is open to debate whether this cartoon, which was drawn and published in 1949, is obsolete and putting it in a textbook is out of context. But such attacks close the routes to debate, which is the more untoward development. Discussion is the wealth of democracy. That is why, as a worker of the Phule-Ambedkar movement and as a teacher as well, I condemn this ghastly act. I also appeal to all not to close the doors to debate and discussion and to not shrink the vast expanse of Phule’s and Ambedkar’s thoughts..." Dr Hari Narke
Let’s look within, says one MP who didn’t join the mob
National Conference MP from Baramulla Sharifuddin Shariq was the lone dissenting voice in the Lok Sabha today where MPs closed ranks demanding the removal of cartoons of politicians in NCERT textbooks for political science. Not surprisingly, his voice was drowned out. Ironically, not one MP attacked the vandalisation of political scientist Suhas Palshikar’s office in Pune University on Saturday. Palshikar was one of the advisors for the Class XI textbook that contained the 1949 cartoon of Nehru and Ambedkar over which the MPs created an uproar last Friday. When Shariq urged MPs against going overboard in their criticism of cartoons, his speech was disrupted by MPs from SP and Congress sitting next to him. “We have ourselves given cartoonists the chance to make cartoons on us. Instead of criticising the cartoons, we should do some introspection. It is a reflection of what we have done and a reaction to it,” Shariq said. “Is it not a reality that when one becomes an MP or an MLA for the second time, they become richer? Their assets (submitted to Election Commission before elections) show considerable increase?” “It was unfortunate that I was disrupted. It is because of the lack of tolerance that I was not heard. But democracy requires tolerance to hear all voices,” Shariq later told The Indian Express.
Salman Rushdie On Censorship
Cartoon row has academics bemused
The political uproar caught former NCERT director Krishna Kumar unawares. "I am totally puzzled by the reaction. The textbooks have been approved through due processes. All textbooks have been approved by the National Monitoring Committee appointed by the HRD ministry that includes several civil servants, experts, academicians and mediapersons. It is being taught in 15 states of very different political ideologies for the last five years only because the books are of very high quality," he said. The last book, Indian Constitution at Work is what caused the furore over a cartoon that's been in existence since 1949 but was never a subject of controversy. On Monday, another NCERT book, Democratic Politics 1, prescribed for Class IX, was also criticized in Parliament for another set of cartoons. The textbooks were developed in 2005 to 2007 by Textbook Development Committees constituted by the NCERT, and chaired by experts in the concerned areas. In case of political science and social science, it was chaired by Prof Hari Vasudevan and the chief advisors were Prof Suhas Palshikar and Prof Yogendra Yadav. These textbooks were placed before the National Monitoring Committee chaired by Prof Mrinal Miri and Prof G P Deshpande and consisting of representatives of state governments and educational experts from across the country. It was only after the approval of the committee that the textbooks were released from 2006 onwards. It is the same set of academics who were celebrated for the innovation in enriching the books with cartoons as a device to provide students respite from bland texts. The sense of betrayal among academics is palpable as nobody in the ministry is stepping forward to defend them who only carried out their brief.
Save the classroom from the political class: by SUHAS PALSHIKAR
When an emotional issue erupts in the public domain, argument becomes difficult and secondary to decision-making. That is what happened over the controversy regarding the inclusion of a cartoon depicting Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in a class XI textbook. One self-proclaimed inheritor and interpreter of Dr. Ambedkar's legacy ensured the debate could not even enter the realm of reason by comparing him to the Prophet. Such persons have done immense harm to the Ambedkar legacy of critique — remember that he not only sought to critique and demolish Hinduism or Gandhi's ideas; he even sought to critique and recreate Buddhism... But now the controversy has become wider.. When Parliament.. almost in one voice, reprimands the inclusion of cartoons in political science textbooks, is there any scope for reason? Thus, in either case, argument is the casualty... Besides the purported denigration of Dr. Ambedkar, five other issues have now emerged and need to be argued, debated and resolved both in the academic realm and the public realm more generally..
A Student's Petition against the Banning
Funny days, dark nights
R K Laxman, arguably India's best known and loved cartoonists, says in his book Tunnel of Time that he started drawing Britain's Harold Wilson because nothing he made on India or its politicians was cleared by the censors. That meant almost everything that wasn't fawning or fake made it to print. A Laxman cartoon that showed a lady in high heels was seen as a blatant attempt to mock Indira Gandhi. "I was warned," he says in the book, "that if I continued to indulge in this sort of disruptive activity through my cartoons, I would regret it." Kamala, his wife, now says Laxman was so upset with the press censorship that the couple decided to go on a long holiday. "We went to Mauritius for a month and when we came back the Janata Party government had assumed power," she reminisces.. Cartooning has never been an easy job in India. The political fiasco around the B R Ambedkar cartoon in an NCERT book is merely a case in point. No one in this country likes it when the joke is on them. It's funny only when the neighbour slips on the banana peel. And with its myriad sensitivities , a cacophony of cultures, a multiplicity of faiths and a mesh of castes, one never knows who will take offence at what. Thirty years into the trade, Ajit Ninan, who is now with The Times of India, says that unlike their ilk in the rest of the world, cartoonists here are forever apprehensive. He should know. He had to profusely apologise once for hurting Hindu sentiments and another time for making Christians unhappy...
