Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has been involved in a massive controversy after he received backlash over his joke on Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde. As per reports, Kamra had sought one week of time to appear before Mumbai Police for investigation in this case. However, according to the sources, Mumbai police has rejected Kamra’s request to seek more to appear for investigation and will reportedly send second summon to him.
For the unversed, Kunal’s controversial ‘gaddar’ (traitor) joke allegedly aimed towards Eknath Shinde created outrage. After this, CM Devendra Fadnavis strongly criticised Kamra’s comments and called his joke ‘a low quality comedy’. After this uproar against the comedian, MIDC police had registered a first information report against Kamra for his remarks and it was later transferred to Khar police for investigation.
Kunal posted another video on social media in which he sang another parody song and showed the clips of vandalism that took place at The Habitat, where he earlier performed his stand-up comedy act. He sang the parody version of the popular song ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We Shall Overcome) and changed the word ‘Kamyab’ to ‘Kangal’ (poor).
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For the uninformed, a mob vandalised the Habitat studio after Kamra’s controversy errupted. He then issued an official statement on social media and refused to apologised. He wrote, “An entertainment venue is merely a platform. A space for all sorts of shows. Habitat (or any other venue) is not responsible for my comedy, nor does it have any power or control over what I say or do. Neither does any political party. Attacking a venue for a comedian’s words is as senseless as overturning a lorry carrying tomatoes, because you didn’t like the butter chicken you were served.”
His statement added, “Our right to freedom of speech and expression is not only to be used to fawn over the powerful and rich even though today’s media would have us believe otherwise. Your inability to take a joke at the expense of a powerful public figure does not change the nature of my right. As far as I know, it is not against the law to poke fun at our leaders and the circus that is our political system.”
