Aizawl: On the night of July 16, 2023, at around 11:30 pm, a journalist and one of Mizoram’s first political cartoonists, Zodinsanga, uploaded his latest toon on Facebook. What made this toon different from the hundreds of others he has drawn over the years was that this time, it included a sketch of the artist himself.
But there was more: what caught people’s attention was how he was sketched: he was kicked out from an office which had the title, Editors Office written on the door. In the toon, Zodinsanga, was up in the air carrying his sketchbook, a cloud of thought had three hashtags, #freedom, #freepress and #thackery while two sketches hung from his hand, one of the ZPM MLA and the party’s Chief Ministerial Candidate Lalduhoma and one of the ZPM Working Chairman, K Sapdanga, also the owner of Mizoram’s biggest daily newspaper, Vanglaini, for which Zodinsanga had been sketching toons for the past few years.
EastMojo reached out to Zodinsanga, who stated that he has conveyed everything he needed to through his toon and has no further comments to add.
According to trusted sources, the journalist, as per the hashtag in his toon, #thackery came across a similar proposition to the famous cartoonist and Shiv Sena founder, Bal Thackeray who in his days of working as a cartoonist for the Free Press Journal, resigned when his editor restricted attacks on certain politicians.
Zodinsanga, renowned for his toons, has fearlessly entertained the masses by presenting quirky yet satirical depictions of corruption and political faultlines, often targeting the ruling government led by the Mizo National Front. Apart from his work as a reporter for English-based national, regional and local newspapers, he has been drawing these toons for over twenty years. He started sketching the toons in Vanglaini, titled Toonlaini in 2004. A majority of the toons were attacks on the ruling party, the Mizo National Front with a few of the Congress party and a countable number of attacks on the ZPM MLA, Lalduhoma.
Hriata Sailo, a citizen activist spoke with EastMojo commenting on the incident, saying, “We are not new to the curtailment of press freedom by politicians owning media houses. The recent incident of dismissing a political cartoonist due to conflicting interests and restrictions is just another concrete example to support this claim. This media house has the distinction of being the most widely circulated newspaper in Mizoram, and it is no secret that it is owned by a prominent figure associated with an emerging political party.”
“The ramifications of this incident, however, raise disquieting concerns about the deteriorating integrity of media outlets and the erosion of press freedom permeating the entire nation, which has now deeply penetrated Mizoram. Several pieces of evidence suggest that influential media organisations owned by powerful corporations and political elites are increasingly disseminating carefully constructed propaganda, especially in the current era dominated by the BJP. Consequently, these media houses have transformed into conduits for party propaganda, undermining the autonomy of the press and distorting the authenticity of information. The situation in Mizoram serves as a stark exemplification of this worrisome trend,” he said.
Underlining the need for healthy democratic discourse, Sailo said, “As the largest and most influential newspaper, both in its print and digital formats, it wields considerable influence over public opinion. However, biassed and selective reporting in favour of a specific political party undermines the democratic principles of an informed citizenry, freedom of speech, and accountability. By stifling alternative perspectives, a handful of privileged politicians are effectively suppressing healthy democratic discourse and impeding our rights to be well-informed in their favour.
EastMojo reached out to the joint editor of Vanglaini, K Zothanpara , who said the paper does not practise any biases on political parties, especially among the three big parties in Mizoram, “We are working hard to ensure there is a balanced reporting without any biases,” he said.
Comments were also sought from the ZPM MP candidate Lalnghinglova Hmar, the former joint editor of Vanglaini. He said, “When I was in Vanglaini, we would study the number of reports from each party, MNF, Congress, ZPM, etc to make it as balanced as possible. Even though the owner was a ZPM Working President, we published news, articles and cartoons attacking the ZPM party. We did not suppress any kind of reports and we analysed each news article to ensure that there was no favouritism practised in the reporting.”
This is not the first time that an artist had to ‘pay’ for angering the ruling dispensation. Three years ago, on March 7, 2020, an unfortunate incident stifled the freedom of artistic expression when a painting depicting CM Zoramthanga against a saffron backdrop was abruptly taken down from an exhibition organised by the Mizo National Front’s (MNF) youth wing. EastMojo spoke to the artist behind the painting, Bazik Thlana, who said, “My experience of a somewhat similar incident shows that there is no space for critical questioning in artistic endeavours, especially when it targets the ones in power. Whoever holds the power, instead of allowing themselves to be confronted with challenging questions, (ab)uses their power to thwart any form of dissenting and critical enquiries. What also concerns me is the fact that there seems to be a great deal of apathy from the artistic community. I hardly see any form of solidarity shown towards the artist–perhaps a testament to how little we care about socio-political issues and the concerns about its implications. Art has the power to make change, it can be used as a tool to hold people in power accountable, ask critical questions and in no circumstances, it should be allowed to succumb and its freedom suppressed.”
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He shared his thoughts on Zodinsanga’s art saying, “Zodinsanga without doubt, is the best political cartoonist in the state. Dexterity is one thing, his socio-political commentary with subtle hints of humour and most importantly, his critical take on the political landscape is both accessible and comprehensible for the majority of its viewers. His decision of stepping down as a columnist in Vanglaini newspaper is courageous, on the one hand- as it is a testament to his willingness to defend democratic ideals of free speech and individual rights; on the other hand, it is agonising to learn that those space have been increasingly attacked and silenced.”
“What I take from this incident: Behind the façade of a self-endorsed ‘peaceful’ and ‘happy’ state, it illustrates the growing concern of a worrying increase in the silencing of dissents, artistic and press freedom in the state. We know that the press freedom Index in India is at its lowest, with big media houses acquired by big corporations that peddle particular narratives endorsed by people in power. Decline of mainstream media independence, crisis of credibility, criminalization of dissents, amongst others which is becoming a trend have made its way into Mizoram,” he added.
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