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 alludes to the film The Kashmir Files, about the exodus of the Pandits from Kashmir, while commenting on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s response to the Birbhum massacre. Eight people were burned to death in a village in Bengal’s Birbhum district Monday night, in an attack reportedly triggered by the death of a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader. While calling the attack “unfortunate”, Mamata also asserted that such incidents were more common in several other states — Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Alok Nirantar also takes a dig at Mamata’s response to the Birbhum violence. While she visited the village, Bagtui, and offered financial compensation to the bereaved, she also claimed that the incident was a “big conspiracy” to defame her state.
Sajith Kumar alludes to the hike in the prices of fuel and LPG cylinders, shortly after assembly elections in five states concluded this month. Fuel prices had been frozen since November, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power at the Centre, emerged victorious in four states. But before the freeze, the government had a record of raising fuel taxes, causing prices to go up even when international crude oil costs were low.
E.P Unny also draws on the fuel price hike.
Kirtish Bhatt also comments on how fuel prices have increased after the assembly polls, after a gap of almost four-and-half months. He illustrates a harried official of the Election Commission complaining that somebody is calling repeatedly to ask when the next elections are scheduled.
R. Prasad comments on the US reaction to India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war. US President Joe Biden has said that India’s position had been “somewhat shaky” compared to other Quad members. Meanwhile, undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland, who was in New Delhi for talks, stated that Washington understood India’s dependence on Russian equipment. Prasad alludes to the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, when US officials secretly sold arms to a professed enemy, Iran, and used the proceeds to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.