I have never been fond of comics and cartoon characters. No, not even when I was a kid. But I have always liked the editorial cartoons mocking the important issues prevalent in different spheres of society. And why would one not appreciate them. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a single cartoon would certainly weigh much more. But I never thought that it could outweigh the essence of the normal functioning of the most supreme body in the country. However, our elite members of parliament have just disproved my hypothesis.
The recent uproar over a 63 year old cartoon depicting an inadequacy of one of the prominent figures of the Indian modern history has made me again ponder on the intolerance of our society. And what is even more disappointing is the fact that a very prompt decision has been made to instantaneously eradicate it from the text books on the grounds of being an insult to democracy. Isn't disregard to someone's opinion a bigger insult to the democracy? And even bigger insult is the fact that the actual hidden motive behind this is to gain political mileage amongst a particular section of society.
Sure, text books are not supposed to be magazines, but isn't depicting a society's viewpoint in a particular era an important part of a history course? Some say that the cartoon is insulting. I fail to understand why. Is that because it is ridiculing? But then, the cartoons are supposed to ridicule the shortcomings using exaggeration as a weapon. Are we saying that we should impose a ban on all the cartoons because we are not mature enough to handle satire in a humorous and constructive manner? Or is the cartoon insulting because it is highlighting the fallibility of one of our favorite leaders. But can underscoring a single imperfection be so derogatory to an otherwise reverenced personality? Or is it not possible for us to accept the deficiencies of our beloved leaders and still respect them?
Our education system has always focussed on only the positive facets of our leaders at the expense of being ignorant. We are made to believe that if someone is not a Ram, he is a Ravan. When would we understand that even our favorite heroes and villains could have different shades of colors than just white and black. Why do we not tell our young generations the mistakes that we have done in the past so that they can learn from them? Isn't that the premise of studying history at the first place?
