THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Walking into Vylopilli Samskrithi Bhavan’s Art Gallery, one can easily form a conjecture about Indian politics. Milestone events and political outbreaks were crucial to India in the past 30 years, as perceived by veteran cartoonist E Suresh are on display there. Titled ‘History Line’, the exhibition features around 80 cartoons published by national and international dailies and magazines.
Black and white and colourful cartoons take a witty look at the country’s leadership from P V Narasimha Rao’s union ministry formed in 1991 to the current NDA-led government. To Suresh, history is like train bogies stacked in chronological order. “In the late 90s, Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and others held power in the country. The ministers who ran the party till 2014, their ups and downs became a very regular subject in my cartoons. I have included the 16-day reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as PM in 1996 too.
Suresh has visualised India’s varying political landscape for publications including the Statesman, The Economic Times, Deshabhimani and Indian Express among others. The cartoon ‘Swatch Bharath’, which ridicules the half-baked project launched by the Union government won Suresh an honourable mention during the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi State Award in 2015. Another cartoon showcases the apathy of the Central government about increasing fuel prices. Even then, Suresh says most politicians are fond of the cartoons being drawn about them and are hardly offended. “I have never received any bad remarks from politicians for my interpretations,” he says. ‘Untouchable’, a cartoon he drew for The Stateman in 1999 with Lalu Prasad talks about the political tension prevailing at the time.
The self-taught cartoonist who hails from Kozhikode was a mathematics teacher. He has been settled in Thiruvananthapuram for eight years now. “No matter how many years pass, I still practice my skill. Good knowledge of world and Indian history will be an add-on for anyone looking to venture into cartooning,” concludes Suresh. The exhibition concluded on December 8