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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

They know where to draw the line

-The Hindu

Even as political cartoons have come under attack from some unamused politicians — triggering debates on the purpose and importance of cartoons and freedom of speech — the annual award list for the cartooning contest held in the memory of political cartoonist Maya Kamath was announced.

Winners all

A Pakistani cartoonist, an acclaimed caricaturist from Bangalore and a Delhi artist finished at the top of the contest, which drew a total of 155 entries. While Mohammad Zahoor, a cartoonist with Pakistan's Express Tribune , could not be contacted, most of the other awardees who spoke with The Hindu , shared their perspective on the relevance and importance of freedom of speech, in the context of political cartooning.

Freedom of expression

K.N. Balraj, who works in Media Voices , a Chennai publication, bagged the second prize. Saying he was always interested in drawing caricatures and was drawn to political cartooning as a medium of expression, he spoke out against the recent incident in West Bengal where a professor was jailed for circulating cartoons lampooning Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Elected representatives should be ready to face criticism at any point of time as they are elected by us. A cartoonist in India is like any other person and has freedom of speech and expression and no one can snatch it away,” he added. He also said that The Hindu 's cartoonist, Keshav Venkataraghavan, had been a “huge inspiration” to him.

‘Fitting reply'

Sajith Kumar, a Delhi cartoonist who works with the Financial Chronicle , bagged the third prize. Happy to receive the prize, he said that he was honoured. On the events in West Bengal, he said: “I strongly condemn it and people should be allowed to express their views. From now on, I would start drawing more pictures of Mamata Banerjee and this would be a [fitting] reply to her.”

An award that celebrates the spirit, art and skill of drawing political cartoons, the Maya Kamath Memorial Awards has on its jury prominent names such as playwright and actor Girish Karnad, artist S.G. Vasudev and senior cartoonist B.G. Gujjarappa.