In December 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said cartoons have healing power and cartoonists are “closer to god”, while congratulating the family of the late RK Laxman for digitising his iconic cartoon series ‘Common Man’.
Satish Acharya, one of India’s sharpest media cartoonists, now finds his Instagram account withheld in India, with no notice or reason afforded, according to screenshots available on X. Even some of his cartoons published in 2023 are being blocked, Acharya said on X, suggesting the Modi government’s sense of offence has a long memory. His verdict on the episode was rather emphatic: “I have never seen a govt which is SO SCARED of cartoons!”
In his recent cartoon, the Chief Election Commissioner is seen telling two dissenting commissioners that their objections were “never ignored”. Then he gestures at a paper-stuffed bin: “They've been preserved!” A note in the corner says two Election Commissioners objected on record to poll-panel steps 14 times in ten months.
“Whenever the govt is cornered by a genuine issue, this govt resorts to intimidating creative people by blocking accounts by unleashing the massive troll army. This is the sign of a scared govt. This time the trigger is the vote Chori investigation done by Indian Express, Satish Acharya told TNM over an email.
This experience was not limited to Acharya. Cartoonist Manjul, also a contributor to Newslaundry, has had the same experience.
His cartoon on decision-making in the Commission, drawn as an EVM where a finger presses Vivek Joshi’s button and the VVPAT slip reads Gyanesh Kumar, has been restricted in India. He reposted it with Instagram’s notice, which says access is restricted “pursuant to a notice from the Government of India/Law Enforcement” under local laws. Outside India, the cartoon is still visible. Indians are the only audience being protected from the joke.
None of this is new. In late February 2026, Newslaundry reported that at least three sets of cartoonists and one publication had faced restrictions citing requests from Haryana law enforcement or central authorities. Gaurav Sarjerao’s Instagram account was made inaccessible in India within hours of a single Modi-Trump post being restricted. Seven reels by Kolkata illustrators Bob and Bobby were blocked.
Acharya had also received notifications over critical cartoons, including one from X citing a Mumbai Police Cyber Crime Department request over a cartoon showing arms of the state forming a human chain around Gautam Adani. In none of these cases was the legal provision disclosed, and questions about which office formally initiated or routed the requests went unanswered. In the two months before that report, Haryana Police, working with the Union IT ministry, had facilitated the removal of 1,616 posts.
“First I was amused why they are restricting a three year old cartoon now. Then I realised that it was a strategy to restrict my entire profile in India. When a number of posts are restricted in India, Meta automatically restricts the entire profile in India. I'm really disturbed, how Meta is crawling to please the government, allowing no option for the account holder to appeal,” Satish said.
Both Satish and Manjul are exasperated by the actions of the social media platforms.
"Honestly, I've lost track of such notices. Six-seven months ago I used to do this but not anymore. This has happened so many times to me. After a while it takes a toll on you,” said Manjul who keeps reposting the restricted cartoons.
"At least X sends you mail when they do something like this. But Meta sends notifications, which you cannot keep track of," Manjul said.
Manjul said he doesn't know whom to write to when such things happen.
“There's literally no option to address this issue on the Meta platform. Of course we can go to court, but it's an expensive option,” said Satish.
The News Minute and Newslaundry have reported on posts withheld on X without explanation or a chance to appeal, which legal experts deemed “secret censorship”. Among the works affected was a Rakesh Ranjan cartoon based on a Scroll report that a leading beef exporter donated Rs 30 crore to the BJP in 2024-25. Works by Sarjerao, Acharya and Manjul were also removed. The targets were largely content questioning the Prime Minister or critiquing policy.
Last month, The Indian Express reported that the government issues a blocking order roughly every 68 seconds, about 1,275 a day, and lakhs of orders between March and June. At that pace, no one is reading what is being blocked.
Despite possessing the full might of the Indian state, an army of spokespeople and trolls, and a compliant broadcast media, the Modi government seems rattled by people with nothing with their pens and imagination. The ‘Common Man’, it turns out, is welcome only when he stays silent. Expect the country to keep sliding on democracy and free-expression indices, and the government to keep blaming foreign conspiracies for the rankings, as content creator Akash Banerjee noted sardonically on X.
In 2018, the Prime Minister said cartoons could heal. He forgot to say whom they would make sick.
This article was first published in the Newslaundry and has been updated with quotes by cartoonists Satish Acharya and Manjul.