In the 21st Century, the Progressive Left has come to dominate most areas of art. Be it music, the entertainment industry, comedy or cartoons, the Left enjoys a virtual monopoly in these fields due to corporate backing for their ideas. However, there are some individuals in these fields who strive hard to break this monopoly. One such individual is the one who runs the account official_artkraftervishy (shortened as Vishy henceforth) on Instagram.
While the overwhelming majority of cartoonists in India tend to work on progressive themes, which often involves denigrating the Hindu faith, apart from mocking Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party who are perceived to be the vanguard of the Hindu community in the arena of politics, Vishy focuses his attention on themes related to Hindu causes.
Consistent with this, he has made numerous cartoons ranging from protection of Temples to GauRaksha. His cartoons also revolves around trending topics. For instance, one of his recent works was on the murder of a pregnant elephant with firecrackers. His cartoon on the topic portrays a crocodile outraging over the incident while eating beef, thus highlighting its hypocrisy.
Another cartoon of his on a trending topic focuses on the death of George Floyd in the USA and the consequent violent riots that ensued in the United States. Following the riots, certain sections of Indian society urged Muslims to replicate the same kind of protests in India. Vishy’s cartoon condemns such elements.
One of Vishy’s cartoon highlighted the fact that secularism always appears to flow in one direction in India. It focused on the decision of the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to organise Iftari for Muslims but said that there’s hardly ever any reciprocation of the same kind from the other community.
Vishy’s cartoon also often attacks self proclaimed arbiters of intellect and morality such as Ravish Kumar who pretend that they are the only ones with any shred of compassion left in them.
Vishy has also made cartoons on the ‘Muslim victim card’ that has become extremely relevant in recent times. Such individuals support the most radical elements within the Muslim community and claim that every criticism of the same is ‘islamophobic’.
The cartoonist has also trained his guns on the stand-up comics who have made a habit of selectively attacking Hindu traditions and Gods and mocking Hindu organisations. In a recent instance, one stand-up comic made derogatory comments on ISKCON for which the latter initiated legal proceedings against her and Shemaroo, on whose platform the act was published.
The cartoons also focus on the manner in which the wealth of Hindu Temples are expropriated by political parties for their own benefit. While Hindu Temples are controlled by governments, people of other religious faiths are at liberty to run and manage to run their own religious institutions.
Speaking to OpIndia, Vishy, who told us that he wished to be addressed as Vishal even though he did not want to reveal his identity fearing reprisal, adding that he has always liked drawing but it was only when he entered the world of social media that the fact that popular discourse is overwhelmingly progressive started to prick him. He wondered why no one was ready to speak up for Hindus. It was then that he decided to take up the mantle himself.
Through OpIndia, Vishal wished to tell the youth that they should study every aspect of news before settling on a particular opinion. He said that the youth should try to decipher why a particular media outlet was running a particular narrative. Vishal also makes wallpapers for phones to further the cause of Hindutva.