NCERT cartoon controversy

We witnessed a sickening drama in the Indian Parliament recently when excepting one or two MPs, including Mr Jaswant Singh, a senior BJP leader, members representing different parties-left, right and centre, condemned a political cartoon depicting Mr BR Ambedkar and Mr Jawaharlal Nehru that was published in a XI class text book of the NCERT, a govt body authorised to prescribe text books for the schools. The cartoon was done by Mr Shankar Pillai, a legendary and pioneering cartoonist, in 1949. He was highly regarded by the politicians of that time, including the then Prime Minister Nehru and Mr Ambedkar, the key player in the Constitution-making as the chairman of the drafting committee. The offending cartoon that had appeared in magazines and cartoon collections, had never come under any adverse notice or objection all these sixty-odd years. It seemed innocuously comic. New text books authors and advisors, obviously keen to introduce a humourous element to political science reading to make the subject more interesting, used political cartoons by well-known professionals, in the NCERT books. The said cartoon was published in 2006.

Hell broke loose when recently some dalit MPs happened to see the Ambedkar cartoon in the said text book. The Parliament proceedings were disrupted; all other important issues waiting to be discussed were sidelined and express the both Houses' sense of outrage at the "insult" of the Dalit icon-Mr BR Ambedkar. The cartoon showed Mr Ambedkar sitting on a snail with a rein and a whip in his hand and Mr Nehru at his back also with a whip. Most who viewed the cartoon dispassionately felt that the head of the Constitution-making body(Mr A) and the head of the govt(Mr N) were trying to egg on the snail with a faster pace.( Perhaps, there was a feeling in the country that the process of making the constitution was slow. Hence, the symbol of the snail. But, unfortunately, Dalit activists thought that Mr Nehru with his whip was threatening Mr Ambedkar to move fast. This was clearly ridiculous, knowing Mr Nehru's respect for Mr Ambedkar and his role. But bigoted Dalit ideologues and activists will have none of it. It was a convenient handle to malign non-dalits. It was a really shameful display of vote-bank politics at its worst.