On Thursday, the German ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, denounced a cartoon that a German magazine had published making fun of the Indian population. He said that, in his opinion, the caricature was neither funny nor acceptable and he urged the artist to learn more about India.

"In my personal opinion, the cartoon was neither funny nor appropriate. I would like to invite this cartoonist to come on a metro ride with me in Delhi. I think many metros in Germany are not as good as Delhi Metro and the same for the train system. He should inquire a little more about India and know how state-of-the-art their railway system is," said Philipp Ackermann.

German magazine Der Spiegel recently published a cartoon, depicting a dilapidated Indian train, overflowing with passengers both inside and atop coaches, overtaking a swanky Chinese train on a parallel track. This cartoon was about India’s population overtaking China.

Many Indians, including union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, have criticized the sketch, terming it “racist" and “in bad taste".

"Dear Cartoonist at @derspiegel Notwithstanding your attempt at mocking India, it's not smart to bet against India under PM Narendra Modi... in a few years, India's economy will be bigger than Germany's," tweeted Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics & Technology.

Kanchan Gupta, the senior adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, wrote that the illustration ''caricaturing India in this manner has no resemblance to reality''.

He tweeted, ''Hi Germany, this is outrageously racist. Der Spiegel caricaturing of India in this manner has no resemblance to reality. The purpose is to show India down and suck up to China.''

According to United Nations, India has overtaken China as the world's most populous country, with a population of 1,425,775,850. This is the first time that India has topped the UN list of most populous countries since it started collecting population data in 1950.

Image source: ANI