Ambedkar's depiction in cartoons is 'No Laughing Matter'

A cartoon by K Shankar Pillai in 1949 showed Jawaharlal Nehru whipping a snail-borne Bhimrao Ambedkar, alluding to the perceived slow pace of framing the Constitution.

While it didn't stir a controversy back then, it did so in 2012 when the cartoon was included in a school textbook causing an uproar in the Parliament. And, also presented itself as an opportunity to Unnamati Syama Sundar to compile a book archiving cartoons on Ambedkar.

"After this Ambedkar cartoon controversy in (the) NCERT book, I started archiving Ambedkar cartoons right from 1932 to 1956," author Sundar said at a discussion at the India Habitat Centre here.

The archive then resulted in a book, titled "No Laughing Matter", which is essentially a collection of 122 cartoons from India's leading publications, drawn by Shankar, Enver Ahmed and R K Laxman, among others, "laying bare the perverse and thoughtless hostility Ambedkar often contended with".

While the NCERT later dropped the controversial cartoon from textbooks, the Dalit author said he started analysing these illustrations to see how Ambedkar had been depicted, how the press projected him and the kind of insult he faced.

"The book is basically about how the cartoonists projected him negatively," he told PTI.

"These cartoonists injected their casteism in their cartoons."
"It was respectful in the most disrespectful sort of way."
"As we read this book, we wince rather than laugh as we see each cartoon unfolding," he said. "We recognise the enormity of the battle Dr Ambedkar fought and how much that battle still remains relevant in India today."