German Magazine’s ‘Racist’ Cartoon ‘Mocking’ India Irks Netizens
With India set to overtake China in terms of population, a ‘racist’ cartoon reportedly published by German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ to depict the demographic change has irked Indians. The cartoon shows an overloaded train with people sitting atop it holding a tricolour while a Chinese bullet train is seen behind on another track probably showing China with technological advancement and India with old-age infra.
However, the cartoon has not gone well with Indians and several prominent leaders criticised the ‘racist’ depiction. Senior Adviser, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Kanchan Gupta said, “Hi Germany, this is outrageously racist. @derspiegel caricaturing India in this manner has no resemblance to reality. Purpose is to show #India down and suck up to #China. This is as bad if not worse than the racist cartoon in @nytimes lampooning India’s successful Mars mission.”
Reacting to the cartoon, National Vice President BJP Baijayant Jay Panda said, “In German, the name of influential magazine Der Spiegel means The Mirror. But going by this derogatory, racist cartoon, it should change its name to Rassistischer Troll. & considering Germany’s difficult history involving racism & the holocaust, Germans everywhere should force this race baiting publication to hold a mirror to its conscience.”
