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 takes a dig at the contrasting treatment meted out by law enforcement agencies to those engaging in violent demonstrations against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for military recruitment and those accused of instigating violence as a reaction to suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet Muhammad. The latter have seen demolition drives against their houses.
Manjul, too, refers to the scale of violent demonstrations against the central government’s Agnipath (‘path of fire’) scheme, which have spread to parts of Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.
Referring to how only 25 per cent of those recruited under the Agnipath scheme will be absorbed by the armed forces as career soldiers after a tenure of four years, Satish Acharya reiterates concerns raised by prospective ‘Agniveers‘ about their future prospects, while alluding to the the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2019 campaign slogan Main bhi chowkidar (‘I too am a watchman’).
R. Prasad comments on the proceedings in the Supreme Court over the Uttar Pradesh government demolishing the homes of those accused of orchestrating violent demonstrations to demand the arrest of former BJP leader Nupur Sharma. Government lawyers argued that the homes were demolished because they were unauthorised constructions. In 2019, during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “People who are setting fire (to property) can be seen on TV. They can be identified by the clothes they are wearing.”
In the backdrop of social media acting as a source of misinformation, Kirtish Bhatt alludes to Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s announcement that Indians will be able to use 5G services by March 2023