Kerala Artists protest honouring Anoop Radhakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram, 19 November(HS): Hundreds of artists including top-notch painters like PG Gopalakrishnan staged a demonstration in Kottayam town of Kerala late Thursday evening in protest against the decision of the Kerala Lalith Kala Academy to honour Anoop Radhakrishnan, a self-styled cartoonist who drew a caricature insulting India.

The self-styled cartoonist drew a cartoon titled Covid-19 Global Medical Submit in which a saffron-clad cow represented India. This was selected as the best cartoon by the jury and academy members, all of them card-holding members of the CPI(M).

?This is a cartoon drawn with the intention of insulting the greatness of India, a country that helped more than half of the world by donating the Covid-19 vaccine. The community of global nations had praised India for the rare feat,? said Gopalakrishnan while inaugurating the demonstration. He demanded legal action against Lalitha Kala Academy as well as the cartoonist for sedition.

Jayadev VG, a senior office-bearer of Tapasya Literary Forum that organized the demonstration said that upcoming artists and writers were choosing the easy way out to earn name and fame by drawing paintings that are derogatory and defaming India?s rich cultural heritage.

Artists like Mohan Das, Surendra Kammath, Babu Damodaran, PK Jayaprakash, Venkateswara Pai, Sathyan who spoke during the public meeting pointed out that the so-called artists who have been honoured by the Lalitha Kala Academy drew cartoons and pictures only to humiliate Sanataha Dharma and they were afraid to caricature the characters and incidents that took place in Abrahamic religion and culture.