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!”
