Telangana BJP MP Threatens to Stop Munawar Faruqui’s Show in Hyderabad

“We will see how they will invite him while other states are banning him,” BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri said.

Munawar Faruqui.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Telangana has threatened that comedian Munawar Faruqui’s upcoming show in Hyderabad will not be allowed. BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri was speaking to the media after visiting BJP supporters in Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad, who are availing treatment after their involvement in communal riots in Bhainsa, Nirmal district.

The stand-up comedian had announced a show in the city days after Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao took a jibe at the BJP government in Karnataka over his and Kunal Kamra’s shows being cancelled in Bengaluru over threats from Hindu groups.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Arvind Dharmapuri lashed out at KTR, claiming that he “should have some shame.”

“Do you know who Munawar Faruqui is? He has cracked jokes on Goddess Sita, who is worshipped by the majority of Hindus. While a state like Karnataka has banned him, KTR has welcomed him into Telangana to perform comedy. Has the Hindu society become a comedy to this father-son (KCR and KTR),” he asks.

It is to be noted that Munawar, earlier this year, was arrested by the Indore police after a BJP MLA’s son complained of jokes that Munawar was “going to crack.” Since then, after he came out of jail on bail, many of Munawar’s shows have been cancelled, including the one in Bengaluru last month. After this, KT Rama Rao had extended an open invitation to comedians, saying that Hyderabad is "truly metropolitan and tolerant."

Dharmapuri Arvind, speaking to the media on Friday, said: “We will see how they will invite him (Munawar) while other states are banning him. If you want to preach secularism, invite Ustad Bismillah Khan.”

In November, the Bengaluru Police denied permission to Munawar’s stand-up comedy show in the city amid protest by Hindu right-wing outfits, who alleged that he had hurt the Hindu sentiments in one of his shows. Faruqui had said his show – which had sold more than 600 tickets – was cancelled in the wake of the "threats to venue vandalism". The proceeds from the show were supposed to be donated to late Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar's charitable organisation. He had also claimed that 12 of his shows were called off in the last two months because of the threats to the venue and audiences.

“In our city, stand-up comedians get an open invite. We don’t cancel shows of Munawar Faruqui and Kunal Kamra just because we are not aligned with them politically,” KTR had said.

(With inputs from PTI.)

(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)