Mumbai, Aug 4 - If newspapers are the sentinels of democracy, cartoonists are the torch-bearers of freedom of speech and expression, Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir said Tuesday while releasing the biography of R.K. Laxman, revered by all for his creation - The Common Man.

The 300-page biography - 'R K Laxman - The Uncommon Man' - has been penned by Rajasthan professor Dharmendra Bhandari, a close family friend of over 25 years of the Laxmans.

Jamir said even the greatest of dictators, let alone democratic governments, feared the invisible political cartoonist and his/her satirical strokes that mould public opinion and enabled the ordinary people understand the most complex issues in a simple manner.

Calling him the 'David Low of India', Jamir said Laxman through his simple strokes can explain in one frame what a thousand written words could not.

The governor, dwelling on the decreasing importance of cartoons in the modern media, urged the media that they be restored to their original prominence in newspapers and magazines.