Hijab Row Karnataka, India 2022: A Multimodal Analysis of Political Cartoons Related to Hijab Controversy with a Social Semiotic Approach

Political cartoons have been widely analyzed in social and media studies to explore socio-political ideologies and agendas implicit in them. This paper attempts to focus on the Hijab row which took place in Karnataka, India in February 2022 and analyses it through the cartoons published on this issue. The paper adopts multimodal approach for analysis as presented by kress and van Leeuwen (1996) and later explained by David Machin (2006). Qualitative method based on semiotic approach with focus on the specific type of composition, was adopted to study each cartoon. The results showed that placement of different elements within a composition is a smart tool in the hands to cartoonists to express their opinion on the issue and shape the opinion of audience. The study proves cartoons are a clever way to address sensitive social and religious issues which may not be indulged in easily otherwise. This study enhances the understanding of Hijab issue from different perspectives and analyzes specifically how cartoons are used to present the case strongly in favor of one opinion or the other. The paper makes significant contribution of analyzing cartoons through Composition Analysis Model which was used earlier, mostly for advertisements and photos analysis and never for political cartoons