(CNN) A controversial cartoon struck a nerve in India because the nation of 1.4 billion surpassed China to change into the world’s most populous nation, highlighting sensitivities to what critics say are outdated stereotypes perpetuated by Western media.

The illustration, revealed final month in German information journal Der Spiegel, reveals a throng of jubilant Indians on an outdated and overcrowded locomotive — many standing on the roof — because it overtakes a modern Chinese bullet prepare.

“The Western World prefers to depict India as poor and struggling,” Indian lawmaker Vijayasai Reddy wrote on Twitter, including the cartoon was in “bad taste.”

Other accusations went additional.

“Hi Germany, this is outrageously racist,” Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser to India’s info and broadcasting ministry, wrote on Twitter.

In the years following India’s independence from Britain in 1947, the nation turned synonymous with underdevelopment. Average life expectancy on the time was simply 37 for males and 36 for girls — and solely 12% of Indians had been literate. The nation’s GDP was simply $20 billion, in line with students.

But greater than three quarters of a century later, critics of the Der Spiegel cartoon say it’s unfair to view India by the lens of poverty.

India’s almost $3 trillion financial system is now the world’s fifth largest and amongst its quickest rising. The World Bank has promoted India from low-income to middle-income standing — a bracket that denotes a gross nationwide revenue per capita of between $1,036 and $12,535.

Literacy charges have elevated to 74% for males and 65% for girls and common life expectancy is now 70.

Last weekend, India overtook China to change into the world’s most populous nation, in line with United Nations projections, a seismic change in world demographics that coincides with rising confidence on this planet’s largest democracy.

India’s so-called “demographic dividend,” the potential financial development arising from a big working-age inhabitants is augmented by the nation’s huge shopper market and a pool of reasonably priced labor that is attracting world traders.

The International Monetary Fund expects the South Asian nation to outperform all main rising and superior economies this yr, logging GDP development of 5.9%. By comparability, the German and British economies are anticipated to stagnate, whereas the United States is predicted to develop just one.6%.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister for electronics and knowledge expertise, stated it was “not smart to bet against India” beneath Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“In a few years India’s economy will be bigger than Germany’s,” he wrote on Twitter.

In an announcement to CNN, cartoonist Patrick Chappatte stated he was greatly surprised that his illustration in Der Spiegel had change into “a geopolitical issue.”

“I was surprised that government officials of such a great country would take a cartoon so seriously, and start stirring people’s emotions,” he stated. “A lot of the backlash echoed resentment against the West, a sentiment I can understand — the double standard of Western policies is something I have made cartoons about.”

Chappatte added that he supposed his cartoon to be “good humored” and “sympathetic towards India.”

“If you look closely at it, you will notice, as many of my friends in India have, that their unlikely convoy is bursting with youth and energy — and most importantly, it is winning the race!” he stated.

CNN has reached out to Der Spiegel for remark.

‘Suck as much as China’

The Der Spiegel cartoon “plays with very old fashioned clichés,” Germany’s ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, informed Indian information company ANI.

“I would like to invite this cartoonist to come on a metro ride with me in Delhi. Delhi has a metro which is so state of the art,” he stated.

Unlike the capital’s subway system, nonetheless, not all of India’s huge railway community is trendy.

Many trains within the nation are many years outdated and soiled, whereas the tracks want revamping. Rattling journeys between main cities can usually be gradual, arduous and unsafe. In monetary capital Mumbai, seeing native trains overflowing with individuals — some even perched precariously on the highest — just isn’t unusual.

That stands in nice distinction to China, which for the reason that flip of the century has constructed the world’s most in depth high-speed rail community at breakneck pace.

China has constructed about 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) of devoted high-speed railways since 2008 and plans to high 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) by 2035.

The cartoon’s unfavorable comparability of India to China notably rankled some critics.

Tensions between the 2 nuclear-armed neighbors have deteriorated after a violent stand-off claimed the lives of a number of troopers on each side of their contested border in 2020. In current years, India has been rising more and more nearer to the West to counter China’s rise.

“Der Spiegel caricaturing India in this manner has no resemblance to reality,” Gupta, the senior authorities adviser wrote on Twitter. “Purpose is to show India down and suck up to China.”

While India’s infrastructure nonetheless stays far behind that of its neighbor, New Delhi is engaged on upgrading trains, roads and airports in a bid to catch up.

Prime Minister Modi in 2021 pledged $1 trillion to create jobs for a whole bunch of hundreds of younger Indians and increase the financial system. Earlier this yr, the federal government opened the primary part of a 1,386-kilometer (861 mile) expressway linking New Delhi to Mumbai. The nation can be planning to open the world’s highest railway bridge someday quickly, although the precise date is unknown.

‘Harmless commentary’

Along with a vibrant financial outlook, nationalist sentiment has risen in India since Modi — whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is strongly aligned with conservative Hinduism — got here to energy in 2014.

Some BJP ministers have prior to now come beneath hearth for calling out news outlets which have been essential of India, elevating fears of censorship and diminishing press freedoms.

In 2021, right-wing activists and politicians even referred to as for the arrest of a comedian who addressed a few of India’s most delicate points in a strong monologue, main some to accuse them of stoking nationalist rhetoric.

“Orchestrated outrage is not uncommon in any nationalistic society,” stated. E.P. Unny, chief political cartoonist on the Indian Express newspaper. “My problem with the cartoon is that it is bad journalism, not remotely factual.”

Der Spiegel’s illustration “is a lazy cartoon that showcases a time-frozen cliché on India,” he stated.

And it is not the primary time a political cartoon has ruffled feathers in India.

In 2014, a New York Times cartoon confirmed an Indian farmer with a cow knocking on the door of the “Elite Space Club,” after India’s Mars Orbiter Mission efficiently entered Mars’ orbit.

The picture brought on outcry for its perceived racist undertones, prompting the publication to situation an apology.

Manjul, an unbiased cartoonist who has labored for India’s main newspapers for greater than three many years, stated stereotyping “is a prevalent issue” which impacts many people and international locations.

“The West has its own worldview, which may not always be accurate,” he stated. “Similarly, many Indians may also be biased against the West. India has progressed and changed significantly over the past 75 years.”

But he acknowledged it’s not often the cartoon that crosses the road, as a substitute saying it’s as much as the reader to interpret the picture.

Speaking of the Der Spiegel illustration, Manjul famous that some may see it as exhibiting India surpassing China, whereas others may see it as “portraying India in a negative light.”

“However, in my opinion, they are missing the point. The cartoon simply highlights that India beating China in terms of population growth is not necessarily a good thing,” Manjul stated.

“Cartoons are a form of harmless commentary,” he added. “Cartooning is an art that should be encouraged and supported, despite its negative aspects.”