A cartoon published in a leading Australian daily on Monday depicting a group of scrawny Indian people trying to eat solar panels has attracted strong criticism in Australia and India, with public figures and media commentators labelling it “racist.” The cartoon appeared in the Rupert Murdoch-owned ‘The Australian’ in response to the Paris climate conference.

The cartoon shows an emaciated Indian family breaking solar panels and one person trying to eat them with ‘mango chutney’. The cartoon by Bill Leak was published in the Australian, depicting starving Indians chopping up and eating solar panels sent to the developing nation in an attempt to curb carbon emissions, the Independent reported.

But the newspaper’s new editor-in-chief has stood by the illustration and argued its target was not India but climate change activists.

The climate deal was clinched with the approval of India, China and the US, after days of tough negotiations with the legally-binding pact seeking to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and committing USD 100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing nations.

India had bargained on behalf of developing countries and demanded that developed countries take on more responsibility and provide financial support to developing nations so that they could switch to green technology. India also mooted the International Solar Alliance initiative which was launched during the Paris conference.

“This cartoon is unequivocally racist and draws on very base stereotypes of the third world, underdeveloped people who don’t know what to do with technology,” a report quoted Amanda Wise, an associate professor of sociology at Macquarie University, as saying. “India is the technology centre of the world right now and has some of the most high-tech industries on the planet in that part of the world. The underlying message is that people in developing countries don’t need all these technologies to do with climate change — they need food.”

“Leak’s cartoon, focusing on a stereotype of Indian poverty straight out of the 1950s, might leave him red-faced given the increasing adoption of solar panels in Indian villages,” Aditya Iyer, writing in The Hindustan Times said.

Bill Leak’s cartoon was also widely condemned on Twitter.

Tasmanian Labor senator Lisa Singh, the country’s first parliamentarian of Indian heritage, condemned the cartoon saying it “shows complete ignorance of India and insults every Indian”.

Incredibly disappointed by Bill Leak’s cartoon today. Shows complete ignorance of India and insults every Indian. https://t.co/RVjV7WtQS6

— Lisa Singh (@Lisa_Singh) December 14, 2015

How backward is Aust #climate politics? Here, the absurd racist rubbish published by Murdoch’s national newspaper pic.twitter.com/V6BG2VVnq4

— David Pope (@davpope) December 13, 2015

Frankly, how does it matter that some cartoonist in Australia thinks of India this way? So passe to get worked up ! https://t.co/1NYK98vYQa

— rahul joglekar (@r_joggy) December 14, 2015

1: Racist & Insulting Cartoon on Solar Energy in India
2. World’s First 100% Solar Powered Airport at #Kochi, India pic.twitter.com/H9btmIMu1U

— Jairaj P (@jairajp) December 14, 2015

Newspaper cartoons are a regular source of political controversy. The Sydney Morning Herald last year apologised for the depiction of a Jewish character in a cartoon about the war in Gaza, which editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir said constituted a “serious error of judgment.”