You Said It

Summary

“You Said It,” by LAXMAN, is a satirical newspaper cartoon feature dated in the archival annotation 15 April 1970. The principal clipping presents a compact political joke: a figure seeking admission to a party claims that he was expelled from another party for “indiscipline, misbehaviour etc.,” turning party-switching and political respectability into the object of ridicule.

The surrounding preserved pages include additional, apparently unrelated newspaper and cartoon clippings. These visible items continue the political satire, depicting allegations about Minoo Masani’s relationship with big business, the expulsion of C. C. Desai from the Swatantra Party, and the Swatantra Party’s star symbol. They also include Gujarati-language material and ordinary newspaper reports, but these are not treated as part of the principal “You Said It” feature.

Key points

• The principal item is a single political cartoon feature titled “You Said It.”
• The feature is bylined “By LAXMAN.”
• Its joke concerns a politician seeking entry into a party after being expelled from another for indiscipline and misbehaviour.
• The cartoon satirizes party-switching and the language of political discipline.
• The archival set also preserves unrelated political cartoons, newspaper reports, and Gujarati clippings.
• One adjacent cartoon targets claims that Minoo Masani is a capitalist, monopolist, and ally of big business.
• Another adjacent cartoon refers to C. C. Desai’s expulsion from the Swatantra Party.