The selected cartoons appeared first in other publications, either in print or online, or on social media, and are credited appropriately.
In today’s featured cartoon, Nala Ponnappa alludes to the uproar over the release of Charles Sobhraj — the French serial killer of Indian and Vietnamese parentage — from a jail in Nepal where he spent the better part of the past two decades. Implicated in more than 20 killings, Sobhraj’s sordid exploits earned him the tag of ‘Bikini Killer’ and ‘Serpent’.
Manjul takes a swipe at a section of TV news for its disparate coverage of PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi, suggesting that this section praises the PM for the same trait for which it criticises the Congress leader. In the illustration, an anchor asks the PM: “Why don’t you get tired? Do you take some kind of tonic?” The reporter then asks Gandhi in reference to his Bharat Jodo Yatra: “Why don’t you get tired? You must be taking some tonic.”
Satish Acharya draws on the political discourse around freebie culture (revdis) in the backdrop of the just-concluded Christmas celebrations.
Irshad Kaptan pokes fun at West Bengal BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari, who, along with a number of pro-Hindutva groups, asked supporters to celebrate 25 December (Christmas) as ‘Tulsi Pujan Diwas’. In the illustration, Santa Claus can be seen gifting a man a Tulsi plant and saying, “Happy…. Tulsi Pujan Diwas…”
Alok Nirantar comments on the Union minister Smriti Irani’s remarks that the Global Hunger Index is “not representative” of the hunger prevalent in a country, while referring to the Union Cabinet’s decision to provide free ration to 81.35 core Indians under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year.
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