Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Respect the rights of cartoonists) that was published in Newsband

Respect the rights of cartoonists

In democratic countries like India and America, the cartoonists enjoy a lot of liberty. It is only in communist countries like Russia and China where cartoons are not tolerated. In India, freedom of expression of every person is respected. Indians appreciate a person who has a sense of humour. What is life without humour? In our country, cartoonists possess the right to make a dig at our leaders through cartoons or caricature. Cartoonists enjoying their freedom of expression is a sign of healthy democracy.

Indian cartoonists have not spared any person who occupied the post of Prime Minister after independence. They went ahead and made a dig at Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shashtri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and so on. Not a single Prime Minister was spared by these cartoonists. But some people don’t understand what exactly this thing called democracy is all about and these are the people who make a big issue of cartoons and caricatures that appear in newspapers, magazines and books. They forget that the cartoonist who sketched those cartoons and caricatures is a citizen of India who has the right to exercise his democratic rights like all the other Indians. Allowing cartoonist to use their rights is a sign of liberal society. These cartoonists are the people who make the atmosphere around lively by their terrific sense of humour. The sense of humour lies not only in the cartoonist who creates cartoons but also in those millions of readers who read the cartoons.

In a democratic set up, one needs to be tolerant. If someone doesn’t possess that tolerance then India is not the right country for them to reside in. Such intolerant people should choose autocratic countries like China or Russia to go and settle in. In these countries the cartoonists who choose to ridicule the political leaders or persons occupying high positions are considered as danger to the society and they are condemned.

Another thing is ‘The Constitution of India’ was not the work of just one man. It is a collaborative document, of which each member of a Constituent Assembly could equally be called an author. It is also an accumulative document, in that each new Constitution benefits from the historical legacy of all the constitutions that have already been drafted and adopted before it. There are many ignorant people who need to be told that Constitution is not an epic poem or a novel which just one individual dreamt up all by himself. In all fairness, no single person could be called the author of our Constitution.

Lastly, one must learn to respect the Indian Constitution that provides cartoonists liberty to express their thoughts and feelings through their cartoons and caricatures.