A tattered suit wearing man thrashes a book titled ‘People’s War’ with a stump labelled ‘UP Ban’. This cartoon appeared in the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) official publication, ‘People’s War’, on 17 June 1945 as aresponse to the ban on publications such as itselfissued by the Government of United Provinces in an attempt to quell dissent. The supporting article stated that opposition parties, the CPI and the Congress, had unitedly condemned this ban. Chittaprosad had contributed many such caricatures to this weekly newspaper which had become a powerful tool of parallel reportage and a means of rousing masses against the injustices of colonial rule. Here, Chittaprosad uses the scraps of torn pages to draw our attention to controversial newspaper headlines that necessitate censorship by a corrupt government. A dhoti-kurta clad stout Indian with a fistful of money hovering in the background seems to be in cahoots with our brutal antagonist.
Chittaprosad
Untitled
1945
Brush and ink and water colour on paper
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Chittaprosad
Untitled
1945
Brush and ink and water colour on paper
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