Munawwar Faruqui, a comedian, said yesterday that he may not do any more shows after allegedly 12 of his shows were cancelled in the last two months due to his racial profiling and anti-Hindu ‘comedy.’ The most recent show to be cancelled was in Bengaluru on Sunday when the police asked the organisers to cancel it due to possible law and order issues. This came after Hindu organisations demanded that Faruqui’s show be banned in a memorandum to the police.
In his Instagram post, Faruqui stated, “Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya” (https://www.instagram.com/p/CWzttpho6NB)
Munawar Faruqui is said to be a controversial figure because of his controversial statements about other religions and Gods. His comedy shows have been banned in a number of states. A case has been filed against him at the Tukoganj police station in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, according to reports
Hindu organisation Janajagriti Samiti had requested the police commissioner of Bengaluru to disallow the show from being held. Mr Faruqui was arrested for “insulting Hindu gods and goddesses” during one of his comedy shows earlier this year and spent a month in jail. The Bengaluru Police referred to Mr Faruqui’s show “Dongri to Nowhere” in the letter and described him as a “controversial figure.”
Many people including comedians raised their voices and concerns in favour of Faruqui, stating that right-wing groups are targeting a Muslim comedian with no reason and nothing was wrong in his scripts but one can surely feel disgusted by his words and therefore different parts of the country have been protesting against him and his shows yet he was banned from different states.
Islamist journalist, Rana Ayyub even mocked through her tweet, a non-controversial comedian like Zakir Khan implying that he performs certain actions that restrain and protect him from being targeted by Hindus in a picture where he was seen having ‘Tilak’ on his forehead in Varanasi. He is often seen and heard talking and supporting brotherhood and promoting a secular mindset which Islamist obviously doesn’t enjoy.
Tweet from Scientist Anand Ranganathan where he compared Godra Train Hindu massacre to Genocide of Jews stating Faruqui joke was dehumanising and anyone who finds it funny needs medical help.
Comedy is not about mocking religion or a set of people. In one of his shows, Faruqui made a joke on 59 people including 27 women and 10 children were burnt to death in Godhra by Muslims because they were returning from Ayodhya & blamed BJP leader Amit Shah for it. People getting killed is a matter of joke for comedians nowadays.
On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted a Twitter in which he stated that hatred will not triumph. Despite the fact that the Congress leader did not provide any context for his tweet, social media users linked it to comedian Munawar Faruqui’s announcement that he will retire from comedy.
Muslim newspaper Milli Gazette also came towards the support of Faruqui Milli Gazette & made offensive comments about the victims of the Godhra massacre in response to a tweet from scientist Anand Ranganathan on Munawar Faruqui. There are several aspects of the Gazette’s bigotry that need to be addressed more thoroughly.
The Godhra victims, according to Milli Gazette, were celebrating the destruction of the Babri Masjid. It is demonstrably false, as the Babri was demolished in 1992 and the Godhra incident took place ten years later. In 2002, the devotees travelled to Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi to pay their respects to Shri Rama and participate in a ceremony.