Nitish Kumar at a crossroads, and the Thai cave rescue

The best cartoons of the day, chosen by editors at ThePrint.

The selected cartoons appeared first in other publications, either in print or online, or on social media, and are credited appropriately.

Surendra illustrates the crossroads Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) finds himself at ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, amid reports of trouble in the party’s alliance with the BJP.

The Maharashtra government said it will increase the height of the Shivaji statue by two metres to “balance” the mammoth structure, a move that will raise the cost of the Rs 3,600 crore statue by another Rs 81 crore. Hemant Morparia suggests such moves may end up changing the final shape of the statue.

Kirtish Bhatt draws on union minister Jayant Sinha’s decision to fete men convicted of lynching a cattle trader, suggesting that supporters would not mind the institution of state honours for people accused of such offences.

Economist Amartya Sen recently said India took a quantum jump in the wrong direction after 2014, when Narendra Modi assumed office as PM. Mika Aziz offers his take on the government’s possible reaction.

R. Prasad takes a dig at union minister Giriraj Singh for openly supporting men accused of inciting communal violence. Many have suggested that this may be a sign of the BJP’s open endorsement of Hindutva violence ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Satish Acharya draws on PM Modi’s comment that the Congress was a ‘bail gaadi’, a reference to the fact that some of its leaders were out on bail in different cases.

Arvind TM mocks the Modi government for giving Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Institute the status of an Institute of Eminence despite the fact that it has not been set up yet.

Mir Suhail pays tribute to the cave rescue carried out in Thailand, where 12 teenage football players and their coach were pulled out safely Tuesday, over two weeks after floodwaters left them stranded.

Shreyas Navare suggests that the draconian Section 377, the colonial era anti-homosexuality law, may become ‘extinct’ in light of last year’s historic Right to Privacy judgment.

Soham Sen illustrates the Nirbhaya gangrape murder convicts preparing themselves for their last ride together as the Supreme Court upholds the verdict of capital punishment for them.