A cartoon depicting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi hiding from Prime Minister Narendra Modi put up in a town in southern Karnakata has reportedly been taken down by civic authorities.
The cartoon by Satish Acharya, was put up in the premises of the artist’s house in Kundapura, Udupi district. Satish told The News Minute that he regularly puts up his cartoons in what he calls his Cartoon Corner.
“I got a call from a local Congress leader on Wednesday asking me to remove the hoarding. He said it hurt his and the party’s sentiments. But I said it was not against the law and if there is anything like that, the municipality could take a call and let me know,” Satish said.
The very next day, Kundapura Municipal authorities removed the cartoon on the pretext of having a flex-removal drive in the city, Satish says. Acharya’ had a drawn a cartoon showing Gandhi hiding behind Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as Modi advances in their direction. He drew the cartoon after the assembly elections in four states and Puducherry in May.
“I am not inclined towards any political party. I draw cartoons mostly on politics and sports and use Cartoon Corner hoardings to display some of them. I haven’t been approached by people asking me to remove the hoardings before although I have had BJP supporters abusing me on social media and other places when I have presented something critical of the party,” Satish said.
Satish had tweeted about the incident and also put up images of the cartoon over his house on Facebook.
“Congress has been left with five states in India. But, they are doing relatively well in Karnataka and they should work on building on their image instead of taking offence to a cartoon,” he added.