Amid a major row during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Norway over alleged risks to press freedom in India, a cartoon depicting the BJP leader as a snake charmer, which appeared in a leading Norwegian newspaper, has surfaced on social media and sparked allegations of racial stereotyping.
The cartoon was published with a caption in Aftenposten newspaper just two hours before PM Modi arrived in Oslo.
The matter went viral on social media after a dispute broke out during one of the Indian leader’s press interviews.
What does the cartoon show?
The cartoon was published in an opinion article whose title translates to: “A smart but annoying guy.” The article mentioned why India has its eyes on the North, while the cartoon shows Modi as a “snake charmer” with a gas station filling pipe like a snake.
Many netizens were quick to criticize the Norwegian daily newspaper for its alleged racist stance towards India, which has long been portrayed as a primitive land of snake charmers, sacred elephants and superstitions alone.
Historically, the snake charmer has been used by sections of the Western media as a trope of India and its citizens, and in recent decades has been widely criticized as a xenophobic trope.
In October 2022, Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia came under scrutiny for using a charming illustration of snakes to depict India’s economic growth.
Narendra Modi also mentioned and criticized this idea during his visit to the United States in 2014, where he stated that India now does “magic with a mouse,” referring to a computer mouse.
Modi made a similar comment in January 2013 when he was chief minister of Gujarat, when he stated that India had transformed from “a country of snake charmers to a country of rat charmers in the popular imagination.” He was addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Youth Congress in Gandhinagar.
What happened in Norway?
The cartoon’s spread in the newspaper came as the Prime Minister concluded his visit to Norway, where a question from a journalist prompted a response from the Ministry of External Affairs and sparked a series of discussions online and in Indian newsrooms.
This incident occurred after a Norwegian newspaper commentator, Helle Laing, shared on
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“The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, did not answer my question. I did not expect him to do so,” she said in the post, sharing the video in which she can be heard saying out loud: “Why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?”
Norway currently ranks first in the World Press Freedom Index. On the other hand, India fell from 154th to 157th position.
Later, Modi’s journalist’s post as he exited the press conference extended to a press conference of the Ministry of External Affairs, especially after Ling asked why Norway should “trust” India, in reference to alleged human rights violations in the country.
In response, Indian diplomat Sibi George cited reasons why New Delhi can be trusted and a reliable partner, citing India’s civilizational history as evidence.
