Spanish Weekly’s Depiction of India’s Economy Using Snake Charmer Imagery Stokes Controversy

New Delhi: A Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia is receiving massive criticism in India for using snake charmer caricature to depict the growth of the Indian economy.

 La Vanguardia’s front page graphics titled, La hora de la economia india (The hour of the Indian Economy) is being shared by users on Twitter and LinkedIn while accusing the Spanish newspaper of being a “racist stereotype”. 

Calling out the Spanish publication for ‘cultural caricaturing’, Nithin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha tweeted, “Quite cool that the world is taking notice, but the cultural caricaturing, a snake charmer to represent India, is an insult.”

"The hour of the Indian economy," says La Vanguardia, a leading Spanish daily.
Quite cool that the world is taking notice, but the cultural caricaturing, a snake charmer to represent India, is an insult.
Wonder what it takes for this to stop; maybe global Indian products? pic.twitter.com/YY3ribZIaq

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) October 13, 2022

BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bengaluru Central, PC Mohan has strongly criticised the Spanish weekly for its cover page graphic. 

“The hour of the Indian economy" is the top story of a Spanish weekly. While India's strong economy gets global recognition, portraying our image as snake charmers even after decades of independence is sheer stupidity. Decolonising the foreign mindset is a complex endeavour,” Mohan tweeted. 

"The hour of the Indian economy" is the top story of a #Spanish weekly.

While #India's strong economy gets global recognition, portraying our image as snake charmers even after decades of independence is sheer stupidity.

Decolonising the foreign mindset is a complex endeavour. pic.twitter.com/pdXvF7n4N7

— P C Mohan (@PCMohanMP) October 13, 2022

While some users said that it doesn’t matter what lens they are using, what matters is that the growth of the Indian economy is being noticed by the foreign media. 

Why are we even bothered about others perception? Our economy is far bigger than theirs and we're just at the beginning

— Ashok Sridharan (@pyotrilyitch) October 14, 2022

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