OPINION. An image published in Germany by Chappatte (also a “Le Temps” contributor) caused outrage in India. The caricatures become a geopolitical scandal. And exposed the Modi government’s growing intolerance towards state comedians
“World Population: India Overtakes China.” On April 22, this news inspired the theme of the weekly cartoon I’ve been publishing since 2018 in a German magazine Der Spiegel. I represent a packed and happy Indian clunker speeding through a dreary Chinese TGV. Misfortune! My train collided with several sacred cows: India’s nationalist pride, bitter rivalry with China, and the railway’s position in the national spirit.
The day after the release, a senior adviser to India’s Ministry of Information light the fuse on Twitter: “Hey Germany, this is so racist!”. The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology followed suit, as did the vice president of the nationalist BJP party, who proposed that Spiegel renamed him “Racist Troll”. Social networks caught fire, my Twitter feed exploded: “Dirty Nazi Germany”, “Would you like to talk about the trains? discovered that I was born in Pakistan!I let you imagine the real boom that followed…
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