Gurgaon: On Monday, Arun Yadav, Haryana head of BJP’s IT department, filed a police complaint against stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui and has accused him of insulting Hindu gods and goddesses. He has asked the police to make sure that he doesn’t perform. The organizers of the Gurgaon Comedy Festival have dropped stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui from their line-up of performers citing “public safety”.
Organizers have stated that they have got “repeated calls” and messages online opposing Faruqui’s participation in the 3-day festival, scheduled from December 17-19 at Airia Mall.
Mubin Tisekar, the co-founder of The Entertainment Factory, which is organizing the event, said: “We did not want to hurt anyone’s sentiments or put the public in danger… so we removed him from the panel. The decision was taken yesterday and we made changes to the poster and ticketing platform. For us, the safety of artists and public is a priority… audience is everything.”
Tisekar said after the poster was put out, they faced backlash online. “After the tweets, we repeatedly got calls from everywhere. We did not want to go ahead with all that. I will not comment on who all were calling and complaining. At the end of the day… this business is about making people laugh,” he said.
In the complaint, Arun Yadav wrote: “To maintain peace and harmony between different sections of the society, I request you to look into the matter and stop him… His activities have offended my Hindu faith.”
“I had tweeted on December 4 first, saying that his shows shall not be allowed in Gurgaon or elsewhere. I filed a complaint with ACP Sohna today,” Yadav told The Indian Express.
Munawar Faruqui had earlier spent a month in Indore Jail after a son of BJP MLA took objection. He had charges on him stating that during one of his shows he insulted Hindu gods and goddesses. After the incident, many shows of Munawar have been canceled, following ultimatums by right-wing groups.
These include shows in Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, and Raipur. After a recent show in Bengaluru was canceled, with local police citing law and order issues, Faruqui posted online: “Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya (hate has won, the artist has lost). I’m done, goodbye. Injustice.”
Asked if he was aware that a police complaint had been filed against Faruqui’s participation, Tisekar, said, “Yes, we are aware.”
Aman Yadav, ACP, Sadar, who has the additional charge of ACP Sohna, said, “A complaint has been received against Faruqui, objecting to his participation in a festival to be held in Gurgaon and regarding the content of some of his videos online.”
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