A Norwegian newspaper has sparked a sharp backlash after publishing a cartoon depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a snake charmer, imagery widely condemned as racist and rooted in colonial-era stereotypes. The illustration, published by Aftenposten on Wednesday, showed PM Modi holding what appeared to be a fuel-station pipe shaped like a snake, alongside an opinion piece reportedly titled "A clever and slightly annoying man."

The cartoon landed in the middle of an already simmering controversy surrounding PM Modi's state visit to Norway, where the Prime Minister had been publicly questioned by Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng over his decision not to take media questions during a joint appearance with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. PM Modi did not respond to the query at the time, but the exchange later drew a sharp rebuttal from India's Ministry of External Affairs, represented by diplomat Sibi George.

'Blatantly racist': the internet responds

The cartoon triggered immediate and widespread condemnation online. Many pointed to the deep irony of the imagery, that a European newspaper had reached for one of the most tired colonial tropes about India at precisely the moment PM Modi was visiting the continent as a head of state.

"This cartoon is blatantly racist," one user wrote on X. "What also stands out is the irony. PM Modi used to speak about how earlier the world thought of India as a 'land of snake charmers'. And now, during his visit to Oslo, a major European newspaper depicts him exactly that way."

Another user, who goes by the name Prady, wrote, "Europeans still can't come out of their colonial fantasies, sigh," as he slammed the daily. Others echoed the view that "colonial arrogance still survives in the Western elite media."

A recurring pattern

The backlash was not without precedent. A similar controversy emerged in 2022 when a Spanish newspaper used snake-charmer symbolism in its coverage of India's economic rise, drawing comparable criticism at the time.

The irony of the Aftenposten cartoon is not lost on those familiar with PM Modi's own public speeches. At Madison Square Garden in 2014, the Prime Minister had specifically addressed how India was once stereotyped abroad as a country of "snake charmers," before positioning it as a technology-driven nation of "mouse charmers."

Published on: May 20, 2026 8:10 AM IST