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, Satish Acharya takes a swipe at Union Minister Piyush Goyal over his statement that the Indian economy may touch the $30 trillion-mark in the next 30 years. In the illustration, Acharya alludes to a proposal before the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to include horse racing in the 28 per cent slab. Sitharaman misspoke and said “horse-trading” instead of “horse racing”, inviting jibes. This comes in the backdrop of allegations that ‘horse-trading’ of MLAs led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
E.P. Unny draws parallels between the ‘resort politics’ that played out before the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra and the Union finance ministry’s “protectionist” fiscal and trade policies — a reference to a hike on gold import duty and bans on the export of wheat.
Alok Nirantar comments on the heavy rains in Mumbai while taking a dig at Shiv Sena MLAs who — after they were accommodated at a luxury hotel in flood-hit Assam — extended support to Eknath Shinde, placing him in the chief minister’s chair with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led in the state by now Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Sajith Kumar takes a swipe at the newly-formed Maharashtra government over its decision to scrap the relocation of a contentious Metro car shed from Mumbai’s Aarey forest. He alludes to allegations that the threat of investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) played a role in the rebellion of Shiv Sena MLAs that led to the fall of the previous government. Retorting to taunts from the opposition, deputy CM Fadnavis said the new administration was indeed an “ED” government — an “Eknath-Devendra government”.
Kirtish Bhatt refers to a news media outlet that has been served a defamation notice by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly airing a doctored video of him. In the illustration, a broadcast producer can be seen telling the anchor: “No, not for all of them. Apologise only for this fake news.”