Munawar Faruqui to hold show in Kolkata; Telangana invites him to 'tolerant' Hyderabad

Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, who had reportedly bid goodbye to his career in disgust after protests by right wing outfits led to the cancellation of his show in Bengaluru, has resurfaced. The comedian, who was labelled as a “controversial figure” by Bengaluru police and jailed for a month in Indore for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments, will now perform in Kolkata in January.

The 29-year-old Faruqui seems to have buried the “hate” for now and took to Twitter on Saturday (December 18) evening to share a link to book tickets for his two-hour comedy act ‘Dhandho’ in Kolkata. This event is scheduled to be held on January 16.

The tickets priced at ₹799 were filling fast at online ticket booking platform BookMyShow, said media reports.

Meanwhile, the Telangana government, which seems to be on a war-path with the BJP-led government at the Centre, too invited stand-up comedians Kunal Kamra and Munawar Faruqui to stage their shows in Hyderabad. Taking a dig at Bengaluru, the state information technology minister K T Rama Rao said that they were  “truly cosmopolitan” unlike Bengaluru and welcome criticism.

KTR, as Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son is popularly known, said at an inauguration of an insurance and financial company’s Hyderabad office on Friday (December 17) evening, “You can come here, criticise the government… in fact, we receive a lot of brickbats from our opposition every day. We are very tolerant.”

We believe in Democracy,
We don’t cancel shows like other Governments ….@kunalkamra88 , @thevirdas ,
You are most welcome to do your show in Hyderabad

– Hon’ble Minister @KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/OPiq4kTgBj

— krishanKTRS (@krishanKTRS) December 17, 2021

He also said that people from Bengaluru claim their city to be cosmopolitan and then end up taking comedy very seriously. “We (Hyderabad) are a truly cosmopolitan city that is welcoming of all cultures, welcoming of criticism,” he pointed out, said newspaper reports. KTR took a jibe at the BJP by stating that they don’t cancel shows of Munawar Faruqui and Kunal Kamra just because they are not aligned with the comedians politically.

Also read: ‘Hate has won’: Comedian Faruqui after Bengaluru show cancelled

In November, right-wing outfits protested against Faruqui’s stand-up comedy show in Bengaluru alleging that he had hurt Hindu sentiments in one of his shows. The Bengaluru police had swung into action and shot off a letter to the organisers to cancel his show, ‘Dongri to Nowhere’, since they had credible information that several organisations were opposing this stand-up comedy show and this could create chaos and disturb public peace and harmony.

According to the Bengaluru police, Munawar Faruqui was a controversial figure, as was his statements on the gods of other religions. “Many states have banned his comedy shows. It is learned that a case has been filed against him in Madhya Pradesh. Similar cases are filed against him in other states,” the police had written in the letter. The show was cancelled though more than 600 tickets had been sold since there were ‘threats” to vandalise the venue.

The proceeds from the show were supposed to be donated to late Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar’s charitable organisation. At that time, Faruqui, seemed to give up and tweeted that ‘My name is Munawar Faruqui. And that’s been my time, you guys were (a) wonderful audience. Good bye, I’m done’.

In January, the comic had spent a month in jail in Indore on charges of allegedly making jokes against Hindu gods and goddesses. A FIR was filed against him by a BJP MLA’s son. He was released from jail 35 days later after the Supreme Court found that evidence against him was “vague” and that he had not cracked a single joke on this topic.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh too had invited stand-up comedians Kunal Kamra and Munawar Faruqui to hold a programme at Bhopal in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, after they were denied permission in Bengaluru. He had tweeted that they can joke about him and they will not be touched in Bhopal. Immediately, BJP MLA from Bhopal Huzur Assembly constituency, Rameshwar Sharma, said he will not allow shows of anyone who has disrespected Hindu deities not only in Bhopal but also in the rest of Madhya Pradesh.

“Digvijaya Singh is wishing to invite Pakistan’s terrorists to his home for a biryani party. This doesn’t mean that we all will accept it,” the MLA had said at that time.