Comedian Munawar Faruqui continues to be at the receiving end of hate from right-wing group members as another show got cancelled today following threats of protests across the city. This becomes at least the 12th show of Mr Faruqui to be cancelled within just 2 months.
The comic hinted at his possible quitting from the space as he shared a long Instagram post before boarding his flight from Bengaluru this morning where his show was supposed to be held today.
The police “advised” the organizers of the event to call off the show as they allegedly got solid opposition from many groups, calling Mr Faruqui a “controversial figure”. The November 28th show was going to be performed at Good Shepherd auditorium in the capital of Karnataka after the police issued a letter to the organizers on the night of November 27th. In the letter, the cops wrote that they “should cancel the show” as it “could create chaos and could disturb the public peace and harmony, which may further lead to law and order problems”.
However, sources within the police said that the letter was triggered by the group Hindu Janjagruti Samiti petition that came in yesterday to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant. They added that the cops were pulled up for “not cancelling the show earlier” and told them to cancel it immediately. Senior police officials chose not to comment on this.
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Hindu Janjagruti Samiti is a group whose alleged “ex-members” have been charged with the murder of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M.M. Kalburgi. The police released the letter to the show’s organizers just a couple of hours after getting the petition that tagged Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde and other politicians.
Several allegations were rubbed on the face of Mr Faruqui in the petition. It said that he had a habit of making “unacceptable” jokes on “Hindu Gods, Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2020, Godhra massacre of Karsevaks”, adding that allowing his shows to be held will mean giving him an opportunity to continue “his crimes”. Threatening to protest on the city roads if his show isn’t cancelled, the petition hinted at the warning, “Should such a programme that disturbs the communal harmony be allowed when the memories of DJ Halli riots are still fresh?”
The cancellation was followed by a thank-you note from Mohan Gowda, spokesperson, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Karnataka on Sunday morning. Tagging Commissioner Pant, DG & IGP Praveen Sood, Mr. Bommai and Mr. Jnanendra, he expressed his gratitude “for cancelling anti-Hindu Munawar Faruqui programme in Bengaluru”. He had threatened earlier that he won’t allow the show to be held.
An evidently distraught Mr Faruqui shared a post on social media that seemed to indicate that he will no longer continue doing shows.”Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya (hate has won, artist has lost). I’m done, goodbye. Injustice,” he captioned the post.
Adding that the event had made a sale of more than 600 tickets, Munawar Faruqui wrote, “Aaj Bangalore show cancel ho gaya (under the threats of venue vandalism). We sold 600+ tickets. Month back my team called late Puneeth Rajkumar sir organisation for charity which we will be going to generate from this show in Bangalore. We agreed to not sell the show on the name of charity as suggested by the noble organisation.”
Referring to the 37 days he spent in jail after he was arrested earlier this year for “insulting Hindu gods and goddesses”, he continued, “Putting me in jail for the joke I never did to cancelling my shows, which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair. This show has gained so much love from people in India irrespective of their religion. This is unfair. We do have censor certificate of the show and it’s clearly nothing problematic in the show. We called off 12 shows in the last two months because of threats to venue and audience.”
He concluded with a poem and wrote, “I think this is the end. My name is Munawar Faruqui and that’s been my time. You guys were wonderful audience. Goodbye, I’m done.”
Several fans requested him not to quit doing shows in the comments section. “Nope. You’re not quitting. We won’t let you,” wrote music composer Mayur Jumani while his colleagues of the comedy industry extended their support and asked him to stay strong.
Speaking about the violation of freedom of expression in Bengaluru, humans rights advocate and activist B.T. Venkatesh said, “It is sad that a systematic campaign by Hindutva groups has scuttled a comedian, just because of his religion. It is sad to note that a threat of a protest leads to stifling of freedom of expression in this city. Some groups cannot hold the city to ransom. Society needs to stand by the artist.
Previously, Mr Faruqui had said how his show caters to the livelihood of several people, including drivers, guards and others. “I used to think sometimes that maybe I am wrong, but after what has happened, I have understood that some people are trying to gain political advantage out of this,” he had said.
Though “everyone is targeted”, “in my case, they use religion. That scares me,” Mr Faruqui had said.
