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‘Come here and perform’: Digvijaya Singh invites Munawar Faruqui, Kunal Kamra to Bhopal
The senior Congress leader said that the only ‘condition’ is that all their jokes should be on him.
Stand-up comics Munawar Faruqui and Kunal Kamra, who recently had their shows cancelled allegedly over threat to venues from right-wing groups, can come and perform in Bhopal, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said on Monday.
“Kunal, for you and Munawar, I will organise a show in Bhopal at my responsibility. There is only one condition, that the subject of your comedy will only be Digvijaya Singh. ‘Sanghis’ should not have any objection to this. Come here, don’t be scared. Just let me know the date and time. All your conditions are acceptable to me,” the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh tweeted in Hindi.
On November 28, the Bengaluru City Police denied permission for Faruqui’s show, titled ‘Dongri to Nowhere,’ which was scheduled to take place a day later. In denying the nod, the police noted that the comedian is a ‘controversial figure,’ referring to his previous run-ins with right-wing groups, which accuse him of cracking jokes on Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
Also Read | Munawar Faruqui a ‘controversial figure’, say Bengaluru cops, comedian's show cancelled
Organisations such as the Sriram Sena and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti had lodged a complaint with the city police chief, accusing Faruqui of hurting sentiments of Hindus.
Kamra, meanwhile, took to Twitter on December 1 to announce the cancellation of all his performances in Karnataka’s capital, scheduled across the following 20 days. “They (the shows) have been cancelled for two reasons. First, we didn’t get special permissions to seat 45 people in the venue which can seat more. Secondly, threats have been made to shut down the venue if I were to ever perform there. I guess this is also part of the Covid protocol and new guidelines. I suppose I am seen as a variant of the new virus now,” the Mumbai-based Kamra posted.
Also Read | After Munawar Faruqui, stand-up comic Kunal Kamra says all shows in Bengaluru cancelled
After Faruqui was denied permission by the Bengaluru cops, the Congress invited him to stage his show in Mumbai. In January this year, the Gujarat-born comic was arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore for allegedly insulting Hindu deities. He was released the following month after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court.
