India is reeling underthe second wave of the pandemic which has collapsed the medical infrastructuredue to which patients are suffering. As the threat of the third inevitable wavelooms over, the nation has not been able to give respite to people amidst themedical oxygen crisis.
The news of people gasping for a breath is all over social media and peopleare being empathetic towards victims to help in a way or another.
In the midst of crisis, CharlieHebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine has released a caricature thatthrows strong flak of criticism towards the acute shortage of oxygen during the second wave of the pandemic.
The weekly magazinereleased the cartoon on April 28 projecting the Indians lying on theground, gasping for oxygen. It also takes a dig at the 33 million gods andgoddesses in India for being unable to produce enough oxygen to help the nation’soxygen crisis.
It may be noted herethat the ‘satirical phrase’ was written in French which when translated means, “33million gods in India and not one capable of producing oxygen.”
Since its publishing,the cartoon has been widely shared on Twitter and other social media platformsand received mixed reactions. There were some people who offended by thereality projected while the others claimed it to be authentic.
Presently, India is going through a severe scarcity of oxygen and there are hospitalsthat ran out of oxygen cylinders. This shortage has also led to the deaths ofmany during the second wave of Covid-19.
Pertinently, this is notthe first time that Charlie Hebdo’s satirical cartoons have become a discussiontopic as he had published many controversial pictures in its weekly magazine.
Earlier in 2006, a series of 12 cartoons were published which portrayed ProphetMohammad in offensive positions. In one of the caricatures, Prophet Mohammadwas depicted wearing a bomb on his head with the catchphrase “All of that forthis.”
This led to massive criticism from across the world especially from Muslimcommunity as it is considered blasphemous to visually depict Prophet Mohammad.
In October 2020, when a French middle-school history teacher Samuel Paty showedoffensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in his class, he was killed for the sameat a suburb in Paris by a Chechen refugee.