Mann’s wit keeps Parliament in splits

It isn’t easy to stand out making speeches in a crowded Lower House of 543. So, stand-up comedian and Aam Aadmi Party’s first-time MP Bhagwant Mann has chosen the medicine he knows best: laughter. “Since new MPs don’t get more than two minutes to speak, satire can do the trick.

It isn’t easy to stand out making speeches in a crowded Lower House of 543. So, stand-up comedian and Aam Aadmi Party’s first-time MP Bhagwant Mann has chosen the medicine he knows best: laughter.

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“Since new MPs don’t get more than two minutes to speak, satire can do the trick. Who wants to give long speeches?” says Mann.

From a comic standpoint, he has found enough satirical fodder in the nation’s politics, as he promises to keep Parliament amused with a new political language of thickly-coated wit. His couplets in Parliament, a social-media hit, recently drew the BBC’s attention.

The comedian, elected from Sangrur, is no joke when it comes to taking political potshots.

When Rs 1.4 crore (including US currency) stolen from BJP MP Giriraj Singh were found by the police, he stood up to say: “Madam Speaker, it seems the BJP has now brought foreign direct investment even in corruption.” An out-of turn-remark, it did not go into the bulky record books of the Lok Sabha.

Jokes apart, Mann wants you to take his jokes seriously. “Satire is not just fun, it is a commentary on society.”

Speaking on the rail budget, Mann asked if the railway minister was trying to curry favour with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by selecting Ahmedabad-Mumbai route for a bullet train.

Mann speak
On the selection of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route for a bullet train, he came up with lines to laud the Railways’ secular character in a communalised scenario: “Main bharatiya rail hoon… Pata nahi paas hoon ya fail hoon, jab har cheez jaativaad ki baarh mein beh gayi hai, aise mein ek rail hi toh hai jo secular reh gayi hai…”