New Delhi: Facing flak for his illustration on India’s population surpassing China’s, Geneva-based cartoonist Patrick Chappatte asserted that “reality is offensive” at times and suggested his detractors to go deeper for “little details”. Although, he did cop to using a stereotype.
The controversial cartoon, published in German magazine Der Spiegel on 22 April, shows an Indian train — with passengers hanging out of its door, windows and many even squatting on the roof — chugging past China’s sleek, high-speed train on a parallel track.
Population: India overtakes China – © Chappatte in Der Spiegel, Germany > https://t.co/QlRffXMzSe pic.twitter.com/bRbNlP4Dvc
— Chappatte Cartoons (@PatChappatte) April 22, 2023
The cartoon followed the news of how India is set to become the most populous country by mid-2023, surpassing China. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) had made the announcement late April, days after the UN Population Fund said India would have 29 lakh more people than China by the middle of 2023.
The cartoon had elicited sharp reactions on social media, with many calling it “obnoxious” and “racist”.
Talking to ThePrint on email on the controversy, Chappatte, who chairs the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation (formerly the Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace), said, “You should always ask yourself, ‘Beyond my first impression, what is the cartoon actually saying?’”
Explaining his rationale behind the sketch, he said, “The topic here was India beating China in terms of population. To show that this is a big step, despite the gap in economic development between the two countries, I imagined an overloaded Indian train proudly overtaking a Chinese bullet train.”
Acknowledging that he did use the stereotype of an overcrowded Indian train, he said, “But it’s not meant in a disparaging way. If you look closely, as many of my Indian friends did and pointed out, their improbable convoy is bursting with youth and energy, and most importantly, it’s winning the race!”
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‘Moralistic mobs on social media’
The cartoon, now viral, had drawn ire from all across India on social media — from Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to former German ambassador Walter J. Lindner, who said the illustration serves ‘stereotypes of backwardness’. Many were of the opinion that the cartoon was ‘racist’, and a comment on India’s infrastructure.
Chappatte disagreed. “Racism is too important an issue to be used lightly. Or for political reasons, to excite your base. If the image of an overcrowded train is racist, then Google is shockingly racist. Type ‘Indian train’ into Google Images and you’ll get hundreds of such pictures,” he said.
Nonetheless, the cartoonist said he “did not anticipate such a turn of events”. That an illustration that was meant to be humorous, light-hearted and actually sympathetic toward India, would become an “object of resentment and turn into a geopolitical issue”.
“I have been a political cartoonist on the international stage for the past 25 years. I have spoken often — notably in a TED talk in 2019 — about this era of moralistic mobs on social media. We know how these storms gather and become unstoppable. Twitter is not the place for debate, or subtlety,” he said.
‘Ambassador doing diplomatic job of doing splits’
On the former German ambassador’s comment, Chappatte wondered if “perhaps German ambassadors lack a sense of humour?”
“On a more serious note, I guess he was just doing his diplomatic job of doing the splits,” he said.
“I appreciate his invitation (to me) to come and see the Delhi Metro. I have. A few years ago, I (also) did a tour of conferences in four different Indian cities. I saw all the high-tech prowess India has to offer — and the other side of the coin too. I love the country, its creative people and its dynamism. And you can only be in awe of its beauty,” he added.
However, the attacks turned vicious when Chappatte’s Pakistani descent became known.
“My cartoon drew a lot of nasty comments on social media about me, Germany and the whole West. And when people spotted that I was born in Pakistan, I got a glimpse into how emotions can run high on this issue…,” he said.
He clarified, “I was born in Karachi to expatriate parents. My Swiss father was working for the watch industry, and we left Pakistan when I was two. Coming back to my cartoon, if some people were sincerely hurt by my depiction of India, if you were to tell me that you felt offended, there’s no arguing with that feeling, I would just say that I’m sorry, because my intention was not to be offensive.”
‘Backlash smacked of resentment against West’
Talking about the backlash against the cartoon and how the entire episode unfolded, Chappatte said that now, more than ever, we “need humour like the air we breathe” but we also “need to rebalance international relations, with more respect for the global South — but without losing sight of a common value: democracy.”
Calling the controversy “an overwhelmingly one-sided narrative”, he added that it “does emphasise the impact of cartoons. They are strong because they use simple references and speak to everyone.”
But this simplicity is also a limitation, he said. “I’m amazed that so many people, including ministers and officials, could take a cartoon so seriously, and make such a big deal of it. Part of the backlash smacked of resentment against the West, a sentiment I understand and I have made cartoons about. For too long, hypocrisy and double standards have undermined the good principles the West stands for,” he said.
“I feel that we live in a world of diminishing oxygen, in an atmosphere increasingly laden with toxic fumes — what journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, speaking of social media, has called ‘the toxic sludge that’s coursing through our information’. And there are many around us who are all too happy to strike a match and light a fire,” he added. “There is less freedom, less civility and more fear. In the face of all this, I believe our best antidote is humour.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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