Whodunnit? “Scared” Rahul Gandhi Cartoon Taken Down in Karnataka

A cartoon showing Rahul Gandhi escaping from Modi was removed by the Municipality of Kundapura in Karnataka.

Satish Arya’s cartoon was removed by the Municipality of Kundapura in Karnataka. (Photo: Twitter/ Satish Arya)

Amid the furore over Udta Punjab, censorship seems to have gone overboard in Karnataka where a cartoon was removed from a hoarding by the Municipality of Kundapura in Udupi district, reported CNN-News18.

Drawn by noted cartoonist Satish Arya, the cartoon displayed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi hiding behind Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to escape from Modi who is seen menacingly marching towards him.

Was Congress Behind it?

Satish told The News Minute that he regularly put up his cartoons in what he calls his Cartoon Corner.

I draw cartoons on all political parties. I use cartoon corner hoarding to display some of them. In the past, nobody troubled me. After I had put this cartoon up, a local Congress leader called me up to suggest that I should remove it as it is offensive.

Satish Acharya told <i>CNN</i>-<i>News18</i>

The next day, the Kundapura municipality removed the cartoon, citing clearing the city of billboards as the reason.

The Congress should be worried about the challenges before the party. It should not be afraid of a harmless cartoon.&nbsp;

“Congress has been left with five states in India. But, they are doing relatively well in Karnataka and they should work on building on their image instead of taking offence to a cartoon,” he told The News Minute.​

Karnataka Congress president Dr G Parameshwara, on the other hand, retorted to the controversy saying that he was not aware of any such developments, and the Congress had nothing to do with it.