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, Sandeep Adhwaryu draws upon the Chinese government making Qi Fabao — a regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army who was reportedly wounded during the June 2020 clash with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley — one of the torchbearers for the Olympic flame at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. This comes amid reports that China had suffered higher casualties than it claims during the Galwan clash.
R. Prasad alludes to the uproar resulting from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha, in which he accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to rule the “Union of states” — as India is defined in the Constitution — as a kingdom. BJP leaders have hit out at Rahul in response, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey asking for portions of the speech to be expunged from the records.
Kirtish Bhatt also comments on Rahul Gandhi’s speech, referring to his statement that the BJP government had created “two Indias“, one for the rich and one for the poor, with a widening gap between them. In the illustration, a man sighs in relief that Rahul was making the differentiation on a financial basis and not along religious or ethnic lines, which would have led to the accounting of many more Indias.
Nala Ponnappa refers to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sanctioning money for the Ken-Betwa and other river interlinking projects across India in the Union Budget 2022-2023, while alluding to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s focus on rewriting history as taught to students.
E.P. Unny illustrates Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati who, after having been out of the public eye, finally addressed an election rally for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls Wednesday and began her campaign from Agra.