March 28, 2024

Ukraine’s “Hinduphobic” Cartoon on Goddess Kali Triggers Outrage | Vantage with Palki Sharma



Published May 9, 2023, 12:40 a.m. by Courtney


com

A Hinduphobic cartoon on goddess Kali has triggered outrage in ukraine. The cartoon, which is published in the Russian-language daily newspaper Vperyod, shows Kali with a bloody knife in her hand, about to kill a helpless man.

The cartoon has drawn the ire of some Ukrainians, who see it as an attack on their religion. "This is an insult to all Hindus," said Kseniya Sidorova, a spokeswoman for the Hindu community in ukraine.

The cartoon was published on October 5, the day of the annual celebration of the goddess Kali, which is also known as the "Durga Puja" festival. The festival is also observed by Muslims and Christians.

Sidorova said she had lodged a complaint with the newspaper's editors. "This is not just an insult to Hindus, it's an attack on all of us," she said.

The cartoon has also drawn the ire of the Ukrainian government. "We condemn this anti-religious campaign in the strongest terms," said Ihor Lapidus, the minister of information and media affairs. "It's outrageous and unacceptable."

Lapidus said he had asked the Ukrainian media regulator to take action against the newspaper.

The Russian-language daily newspaper Vperyod is based in Belarus.

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so that's the news from the front line


more attacks more deaths but


diplomatically where are things at


president zielinski's charm offensive


has worked in the west Europe and North


America are firmly behind him but here


in India there are few takers


you know the reason for that Russia is a


long-standing partner of New Delhi so


picking sides is out of the question


having said that Ukraine's actions have


not held their cause


let me tell you what happened on Sunday


Ukraine's defense Ministry posted this


picture on social media it's a cartoon


of the Hindu goddess Kali it shows the


goddess in Marilyn Monroe's famous pose


you can guess what happened next Indian


users on social media were outraged they


called it demeaning insulting and Hindu


phobic all true but in a pure political


sense do you know what it was


unnecessary


five minutes of research would have


prevented this controversy in fact


forget research Common Sense would have


prevented it the Ukrainian government is


now in damage control their Deputy


foreign minister issued a clarification


and this is what she said I'm quoting we


regret the Ukrainian defense Ministries


tweet depicting Hindu goddess Kali in a


distorted manner


Ukraine and its people respect the


unique Indian culture and highly


appreciate India's support


too little too late


and I'm not talking about this cartoon


Fiasco I'm talking about Ukraine's


overall India policy for three decades


it was an autopilot Kiev never bothered


to cultivate good ties with India but


once Russia invaded realization Dawn


Ukraine needed India's support to


isolate Russia but that's not how


geopolitics Works bilateral relations


require years of focus and investment


neither


think back to 1998 when India tested


nuclear weapons in Pokemon Ukraine


criticized it


just to be clear Ukraine was not the


only one the U.S was new delhi's biggest


critic back then yet look at where India


U.S relations are today


miles ahead of India Ukraine relations


that's the investment and focus I was


talking about


same with their support to Pakistan


Ukraine has been selling weapons to


Islamabad for three decades total


shipments more than 1.6 billion dollars


Reports say Pakistan is repaying the


favor the reports of rockets tanks and


ammunition being sent to Ukraine


unconfirmed but important reports would


this defense partnership have unsettled


India


yes but again Ukraine wasn't alone


Pakistan's Arsenal is filled with


Western weapons so I come back to my


first assessment what Ukraine did to


India the West has also done criticized


the nuclear tests criticize the Kashmir


policy and sold weapons to Pakistan yet


India has excellent relations with the


West what does that tell you


that Western countries made efforts to


reshape their ties with India Ukraine


never did


they could never offer India anything


strategic neither powerful weapons nor


political support on Kashmir nor in


expanding people-to-people Exchange


and guess who did


Russia did they criticized the nuclear


test in 1998 too but they never joined


the sanctions in 2019 when Kashmir


statehood was revoked Russia did not


meddle they called it India's internal


matter the fact is Ukraine's past is


haunting its relations with India in the


present


I'll give an example of it last month


Kiev sent its Deputy foreign minister to


India the same Minister who apologized


for the cartoon she got two books from


India's minister of State for external


Affairs guess what they were about the


history of Kashmir


coincidence well there's no such thing


in diplomacy which brings us to the


present day would things have been


different if your crane had invested


more in this relationship if that stayed


clear of Pakistan or if they backed


India on Kashmir


we can't say for sure but zielinski may


have had more of new delhi's attention


maybe through more raid or through peace


negotiations or maybe through the


current G20 presidency remember Ukraine


is not part of the G20 but Kiev wants


New Delhi to invite zielinski to address


virtually


so far the government of India has been


non-committal


in conclusion let me say this India's


position on the war is less about


Ukraine and more about Russia and there


is no disputing that


but that doesn't give Kiev a free pass


their actions or the lack of it have not


held their cause this offensive cartoon


is the latest example it reflects a lack


of understanding about Indian sentiments


and feelings


and this is the result of years of


policy neglect


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