Class X

Interpretation of Cartoons – Democratic Politics

This cartoon denotes the problems of
running a coalition government. When two
parties having different ideologies come to
power, there can be conflict of ideologies
and the administration can come to a stand
still

In this cartoon, democracy, represented by

a horse, is shown as controlled by the top
leaders. The dialogue – “We gotta keep the
rein tight” denotes that the leaders are
unwilling to give up power. This also
denotes extreme concentration of power in
the hands of top leaders. This is against the
principles of power sharing. This has
become true at least with Russia, where
Putin continues to rule

This is the scenario of the Indian politics

before the 1990s. The Prime Minister is
reluctantly sharing power with the Chief
Ministers who are shown as beggars
begging for power. During those days, the
relationship between the Centre and the
states was not meaningful. India was federal
only in principle but unitary in practice

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This cartoon depicts the problems of
running a coalition government. When
many parties come together to form a
government, the Prime Minister finds it
difficult to run the government. He has to
accommodate various ideologies,
demands and aspirations of coalition
partners. Or else the government may
collapse.

The cartoon shows how the society views

women. It shows the various forms of
exploitation of women that take place in
the society. It shows that the Indian society
continues to be male dominant and
patriarchal.

This cartoon depicts the male dominant

Indian politics. Male politicians refuse to
share power with the other gender. They
did not allow Women’s Bill to be passed.

This situation has changed as the bill was

passed recently. This will come into effect
from 2019 general elections. 1/3rd seats in
the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies
are reserved for women. Indian politics
will not remain male dominant.

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This cartoon shows the secular approach
of the government. The government is
expected to treat all religions equally

This cartoon shows how political parties

treat certain caste groups as their vote
banks. That means, majority of a caste
vote for a party in all elections. Parties,
then, can concentrate on getting votes of
people of other castes. This gives rise to
partisanship which is not good for
democracy.

This cartoon shows the attitude of the

politicians. They are with the people,
seeking their votes only during the times
of elections. After the elections get over,
they become unreachable. They do not
care about the problems people face and
the society faces.

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 The first and the third images represent
the functions of opposition parties. They
hold demonstration marches, carry out
movements to generate public opinion
against the ruling party and in their favour.
The second image shows how the party
workers help ordinary people get the
benefits of governance.

Crunching the Numbers This cartoon shows political parties as

Necessary Evils. People know that
democracy cannot function without
political parties, but most people are not
happy with the way parties function. They
are extremely critical of them. Political
parties need to face and overcome many
challenges.

This cartoon shows politics controlling

media. The mainstream media is
pressurised to publish only the version of
the ruling party. They are puppets in the
hands of the rulers.

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This cartoon depicts money and muscle
power in politics – one of the challenges
political parties faces. American corporate
houses have the Republican party in their
pockets.

These corporate houses liberally donate to

political parties. When in power, these
parties are obliged to make policies
favouring the business houses

This cartoon shows money power and

corruption in politics. Politicians are
depicted as corrupt. A person enters into
politics only to make money illegally.

This cartoon denotes the reluctance of

political parties in following electoral
model code of conduct.

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This cartoon denotes that democracy
needs to accommodate needs and
demands of various social groups.

This cartoon makes mockery of

transparency in administration. The
government knows everything about the
people. But people can’t know how the
government functions. The government
runs the administration behind the iron
curtains.

The cartoon shows income disparities

between the rich and the poor. The top
section of the society, the rich, have the
largest concentration of wealth and
incomes.

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This cartoon shows the failure of
government schemes to provide basic
amenities to the needy people.

The hefty man represents the majority

poor people. His thatched cloth represents
his poverty. His gagged mouth denotes
that the voice of the poor is suppressed.

The governments are formed mostly

because of the votes of the poor but the
governments are not very keen to address
the problems of poverty and economic
inequality.

This cartoon shows uneven distribution of

wealth and incomes in the world. Only a
small percentage of ultra rich have the
largest concentration of wealth and
incomes. The poor at the bottom strata of
the society are left with barely a little to
share among themselves. They are at the
mercy of the government.

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Enemies
Greeting
The two images depict two different kinds of
effects democratic politics can have on social
divisions. Take one example for each image
and write a paragraph each on the outcome
of democratic politics in both situations.
The first cartoon shows that two social
groups of a country fighting. The more
they fight, the deeper would be the divide.
This cartoon can be related to the story of
Sri Lanka.
The second cartoon shows that Democracy
can accommodate social diversity and
promote harmonious life. This can be
related to the story of Belgium.
This cartoon shows Rosa Parks, an African
American, daringly seated despite the
white opposition. This also denotes that
exploitation based on gender, religion and
caste continues in democracy. But
Democracy creates conditions for the
disadvantaged groups to fight for their
rights.
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