THE LONE SOLDIER
No Laughing Matter is unique for a number of reasons—starting from its subject. It extensively compiles cartoons featuring Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar that appeared in the Indian English press between 1932 and 1956. Its editor-author Unnamati Syama Sundar frames a view of the Indian freedom struggle that is very different from the usual GandhiNehru-Congress-centric nationalist history. The 122 cartoons, culled from a wide variety of contemporary publications, are compiled chronologically, allowing us to better understand the context and contemporary events in response to which the cartoons originally appeared.
Each cartoon is accompanied by well-researched commentary about the characters featured and the symbolism and metaphors employed. However, what I found most interesting were the closing notes for each. Collectively entitled ‘Scratching the Surface’, these (mostly, but not always) pithy comments allow Syama Sundar—who makes no bones about the Ambedkarite lens through which he views his material—to turn our gaze from the cartoons to the cartoonists. He exposes their caste biases, their often misogynistic representations and their partisan, even mercenary, approach to work. A seasoned cartoonist and satirist himself, Syama Sundar’s sense of humour can be scathing as he lampoons the lampoonists. Pity none of them are around to feel the prick of his pen!
The thing that jumps out of this collection is how consistently Ambedkar—mass leader, organiser, teacher, writer, activist, Dalit icon, law minister, writer, the man who gave India its Constitution, in short, a giant figure in Indian history—is represented by the upper caste cartoonists and editors as
dwarfish, scowling, destructive, immature, self-serving and untrustworthy. This fact in itself tells us a lot about the threat that Ambedkar and Dalit selfassertion posed to the savarna hegemony over the nationalist narrative then— as it does now. The intellectual laziness of the cartoons is paralleled by a creative and technical laziness. Though we see the works of some well-established cartoonists of the time, including Shankar, Bireshwar, Enver Ahmed and others, there is an overall lack of quality. I’m surprised how many are just mediocre—marred by vapid humour, forced metaphors, unimaginative imagery and clumsy line work.
What is also obvious in the book is how isolated Ambedkar was among his peers. The large majority of his fellow politicians and leaders, of every hue and leaning, is antagonistic to him. He seems to have few long-term allies as he works and struggles unremittingly to ensure greater political power and representation for the ‘depressed classes’, both before and after Independence.
In his introduction, Syama Sundar writes about how in 2012 a controversy had erupted over the inclusion of one of these cartoons in an NCERT textbook. The 1949 cartoon, by Shankar, referred to the supposed slow pace of constitution-making and showed Ambedkar riding a snail with then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru wielding a whip behind them, as a large crowd watched patiently. Following intense protests by Dalit groups, the Thorat committee was set up to review the textbook. This incident prompted Syama Sundar to begin an investigation into other cartoon depictions of Ambedkar, with the intention of submitting them to the committee. The offensive cartoon was ultimately removed from the textbook, but Syama Sundar’s painstaking research became the seed from which this book has emerged.
It took the right person in the right place at the right time to create No Laughing Matter. There is much to be learnt and analysed here. Perhaps we would all be well served if it were to become an NCERT textbook. ■
Unnamati Syama Sundar exposes the biases of the upper caste cartoonists in how they represented Ambedkar
Orijit Sen is the author of several graphic novels and stories, including River of Stories