Twitter reacts after Spanish newspaper uses snake charmer picture to show India’s economic rise

For many in the west, India is still seen as a country of the snake charmers and it was proved again when a newspaper in Spain came up with a unique caricature of a snake charmer to reflect the growth of the South Asian nation's economy.

La Vanguardia's choice of the caricature that went with the article titled 'The hour of the Indian economy' on the front page triggered a controversy with reactions pouring in from India.

The depiction showed a snake charmer with his double-reed instrument playing to make the graph of India’s economic growth head north, comparable to a rising snake.

Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO of Zerodha, an Indian financial service company, shared the post on Twitter which was criticised for an allegedly objectionable depiction. Kamath also slammed it saying the "cultural caricaturing" to show a snake charmer to represent India was an "insult".

“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?” he wrote in the caption.

The post includes a picture of the front page that shows a snake charmer with his double-reed instrument playing to make the graph of India’s economic growth go up.

Here are several reactions that emerged to Kamath's post. While some resonated with what Kamath felt, there were others who said how snake charmers continued to be a symbol of India's mysticism. There were also people who did not find an insult in the Spanish newspaper's take and rather called it a "tribute".

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund predicted India's economic growth this year at more than six per cent, the highest among the world's major economies.

On Thursday (13), IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva praised India's economic growth and said the country deserved to be called a bright spot on an otherwise dark horizon.