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 refers to the stray cattle menace, a major poll issue in Uttar Pradesh. Farmers have increasingly complained about crop losses to such cattle after the Yogi Adityanath government banned cow slaughter in 2017. At a recent election rally, PM Modi promised a solution if BJP is voted back to power. Adhwaryu examines the issue from the perspective of the cattle, who see humans as a ‘menace’ too.
PM Modi’s frequent campaigning this poll season has drawn attention, as it did before and during the assembly polls in West Bengal last year. Sajith Kumar touches on the same issue, portraying a liveried attendant who patiently stands before the PM’s office, awaiting his return.
As the crisis involving Russia and Ukraine endangers world peace, PM Modi referred to it in an election rally in UP, saying in times of global turmoil, a tough leader is needed. As if on cue, Kirtish Bhatt has a political speechwriter say that all leaders now want the Ukraine crisis to be mentioned in their speeches.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin recently declared the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine — where many Russian speakers support his regime — as ‘independent’ and ordered ‘peacekeeping’ troops there. Alluding to Putin’s efforts to bring Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit by invoking his own version of history, R. Prasad uses the term that has often been applied for the autocratic Putin — the Tsar.
E.P. Unny refers to Indian chess prodigy R. Praggnanandhaa beating world chess champion Magnus Carlsen in the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament. He compares it to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s handling of India’s foreign policy amid the Ukraine crisis — likening it to a game of Chaturanga, the ancient Indian forebear of chess.