German media's cartoon on India's population overtaking China leaves Indians fuming

The cartoon published by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.

A cartoon published by German magazine Der Spiegel, depicting India's population overtaking China, has Indians fuming because of its racist tones. The cartoon shows an overloaded train with people sitting atop it holding a tricolour while a Chinese bullet train is seen behind on a separate track. The illustration appears to be highlighting China's technological advancement while depicting India with crumbling infrastructure.

The cartoon has been criticised by Indians with senior advisor to Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Kanchan Gupta calling it racist."Hi Germany, this is outrageously racist. Der Spiegel caricaturing India in this manner has no resemblance to reality. Purpose is to show India down and suck up to China. This is as bad if not worse than the racist cartoon in the New York Times lampooning India’s successful Mars mission."

a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Germany?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Germany this is outrageously racist. @derspiegel caricaturing India in this manner has no resemblance to reality. Purpose is to show #India down and suck up to #China.
This is as bad if not worse than the racist cartoon in @nytimes lampooning India’s successful Mars mission. pic.twitter.com/z9MxcPQC7u

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— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) April 23, 2023

Reacting to the cartoon, many Indians pointed out that the image of Indians travelling on top of trains is not just racist but also misleading.

Musician and conductor of Indo-European orchestra Michael Makhal said, "For some reason, the Germans think, the popular image on the internet shows people sitting on the roof of the train in Bangladesh is in India. Once, I had to explain the difference between India and Bangladesh to a German while traveling in a train from Berlin to Frankfurt."

"He kept mentioning the image he saw on the internet. And, it took me a lot of patience to explain to him that we are two different countries even if we look alike and share borders. This cartoon is not the right interpretation of the expression presumed, people don't travel on the roof of trains in India," he added.

Abhishek Asthana, co-founder of Hood and better known as Gabbar Singh to his 1.4 million followers on Twitter said, "That’s why we need Vande Bharat."

Anshul Saxena, who has over a million followers on Twitter, pointed out that although Germany was mocking India in the cartoon, 61 percent of railway lines are electrified, and the country plans to electrify 75 percent of rail network by 2030. While in India, 85 percent of route kilometers electrified and the Railways are set to achieve 100 percent electrification.

Read more: BHEL-led consortium bags order for 80 Vande Bharat trains at Rs 120 crore per train