The matter of India’s Got Latent, Samay Raina, and Ranveer Allahbadia was not completely resolved, as they were not sent to jail while people did not stop cursing, and another controversy shook the country. This time, it came from a comedian (Kunal Kamra), who crossed all levels of decency and made fun of the ex-Chief Minister and present Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Eknath Shinde by making a song where Kunal indirectly called him a ‘gaddar’ (traitor). Now, tell me, is it wrong to make a political satire in this country? Was Kunal Kamra not aware of this fact? Even after so many shows getting canceled due to threats from right-wing groups, did Kunal not understand this? There is neither any decent music nor any kind of good rhythm. It is obvious that the Sena workers followed perhaps their party’s diktat, entered the Habitat Centre, and vandalized the property in such a way that the owners of the centre decided to close the venue altogether.

But this has not reduced Kamra’s problems; it has only increased them. Currently, he is being threatened to apologize to Mr. Shinde or face an FIR or even death threats. Many leaders condemned his statement and said that action would be taken against him. Current Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Fadnavis has also stated that these kinds of humours and satires tarnish the freedom of expression and it leads to tyranny. He said, “This artist makes statements against the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice; he wants to gain fame by creating controversy. He targeted Eknath Shinde and staged a low-quality comedy”. Even the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh also commented, “Freedom of expression cannot be used to mount personal attacks”. Kunal Kamra, in his response, refused to apologize for his remarks and said, “I will not apologise or hide under the bed waiting for the controversy to die down”.

This is not a new instance for Kunal Kamra, as he often gets entangled in these controversies due to the political landscape of his stand-up comedy. We can see that when he started a show in 2017 called ‘Shut Up Ya Kunal’, in which he engaged in various casual banter with politicians and campaigners from different political backgrounds. One of his most viral controversies occurred five years ago in January 2020, where he accosted journalist Arnab Goswami and criticised his media reports, and shared a video on social media of his confrontation with Goswami. As a result, multiple airlines imposed a flight ban on him. In another incident, Kamra faced a hostile response from the public after he posted a truncated video of a seven-year-old boy singing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Germany. In this video, he edited the original song and replaced it with ‘Mehengayi Daayan, ’ a song from a movie called ‘Peepli Live. ’ The child’s father accused him of dragging his son into politics, which steered to the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights ordering Kamra to delete the video, which he deleted after a while. In December 2020, the Supreme Court found him guilty of contempt of court. This occurred because he posted comments on social media that were believed to be highly offensive and critical towards judges and the judiciary. In one of his tweets, he criticised how courts deal with cases involving right-wing speakers.

So, what compelled Kamra to speak so truthfully? Now, if you wonder, what would the police do to the persons who vandalized the property? I don’t have that answer, but their political future seems to be very bright. Here’s an interesting example which I find similar to, from Afghanistan, where the Taliban government dictates the length of men’s beards, what kind of music people should listen to, who is allowed to attend school, and the type of hijab women should wear when they step out of the house. In the same way in our country, party workers will decide that which kind of joke is valid, or is it even acceptable or not, who can be mocked, or is it even liable for that. The basic thing that everyone fathoms is that, as stand-up comedy becomes more and more popular among youth or educated people in cities, comedians frequently make fun of famous personalities. This often angers conservative groups, leading to a massive backlash. Comedians often get into trouble for making jokes about politicians. Instead of taking real legal action, these cases are mostly used to scare them, showing that the government has very little tolerance for political satire.

Okay, now let’s for a fact assume that Kunal Kamra is one of the worst comedians, does not know anything about comedy, and has insulted Mr. Eknath Shinde. If that’s the case, then what are the courts for? What is the need for them? Anyway, Kunal Kamra’s incident comes at a point when the government is facing another scandal, when the Supreme Court released a video showing cash at the house of Senior Judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Yashwant Varma. If you look at the history of the Judiciary, then it is unprecedented. An inquiry has been set up against him, and all his work has been withdrawn from his table. The main reason why I brought case of Justice Yashwant Varma is, when that incident took place people showed very interest or they were not very fascinated by the fact in knowing the situation of our judiciary. The outrage sparked by Kamra’s video, the incident of Yashwant Varma, didn’t even garner 1/4th of it. This is because the curiosity and the ability to question the system and the government are being systematically destroyed by the spread of irrelevant news, controversies, or conspiracies on social media. India’s got Latent and Kunal Kamra, or for that matter of fact we see Vir Das and Munawar Faruqui, were all examples of distractions that were created. These kinds of issues are deliberately brought to the spotlight to cast a shadow on real issues like unemployment, poverty, inflation, rising crime, corruption, women's security and safety, and even the problem of pothole-ridden roads.

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