Silly season in Maharashtra
Why vandalism is an unacceptable response to an unfunny joke by a comedian
Kunal Kamra is a standup comedian who makes a living mostly by making fun of politicians in power. There can surely be a debate about the quality of his jokes, though people do have the right to perform inferior comedy. However, no one can threaten a person or vandalise a venue for bad jokes. This is why the violence by Shiv Sena cadres at the venue (The Habitat in Khar, Mumbai) where Kamra lampooned deputy CM Eknath Shinde on Sunday is unacceptable. That the Shiv Sena is part of the government, responsible for upholding law and order and protecting the constitutional rights of citizens — the right to freedom of speech and expression is protected under Article 19 — makes it worse. Coming soon after the riots in Nagpur over Mughal ruler Aurangzeb’s tomb, the events since Sunday in the country’s commercial and entertainment capital do not sit well with the image of a government that is in office with a clearly articulated development agenda. The police did well to quickly apprehend the men responsible for the vandalism, but the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s subsequent action at the studio premises raises questions.
To be sure, this is likely to be the case in any state and under any government. Across India, states ruled by parties of various hues have targeted journalists as well as satirists. Back in 2012, a Kolkata professor was arrested for merely forwarding a post that had a cartoon of CM Mamata Banerjee (of the TMC). The Congress government in Telangana recently ordered the arrest of two women journalists for an article that was critical of the CM. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has spoken in support of his deputy and asked Kamra to apologise even as the police have booked the comic.
When did politicians become so thin-skinned? Ironically, Shiv Sena was founded by Bal Thackeray, a cartoonist-turned-politician with a sharp pen and a biting tongue. Satire, humour, caricature, slapstick, and jokes (highbrow to profane) aimed at people in power have been the staple of Indian performance traditions. These art forms have served as platforms to criticise rulers and as pressure-release valves for the public. Totalitarian regimes may be uncomfortable with jokes and censure/penalise comedians, but we are a democracy that guarantees free speech, albeit with restrictions, and with an entertainment culture that is at ease with irreverent comedians. There are always civil remedies available to those who believe they have been defamed and slandered.
What is worse than Kamra’s unfunny parody is the heavy-handed response of the Sena.
