Criticising someone in a free democracy is fine until it starts taking an ugly turn
Who doesn’t like to laugh? Most sane people do. But lately, jokes and comedians have stirred more controversies than politicians in the country. Apparently, their jokes and “poems” have hurt the sentiments of some sections of the society. So much so that they received serious backlash on social media while some have repeatedly received death threats, too. Does it have much to do with a sense of humour or is it intolerance and religion-sensitivity that is disturbing the audience. Interestingly enough, most of these “hurt” people aren’t even part of the audience. The Freedom of Speech and Expression is much talked about. Politicians in India usually enjoy this right pretty well. Derogatory remarks against Opposition leaders come as prerequisites to woo the voters during election campaigns. But those are rarely accounted for. However, actor-comedian Vir Das’s ‘’Two Indias’ monologue “maligns” the country’s image. It was so “hurtful” that a BJP leader had filed a complaint against him at Tilak Marg police station alleging that he used ‘derogatory’ statements against the country on an international platform.
There may not be a definitive answer to whether his satirical monologue could actually hurt India’s image but it might hurt his future comedy prospects, as has been seen lately. Another comedian, Munawar Faruqui, recently announced his decision to quit stand up comedy after 12 of his shows got cancelled in various cities due to ‘pressure’ created on event organisers and venue hosts. Faruqui spent a month in jail earlier this year on charges of "insulting Hindu gods and goddesses" in one of his shows. This is not a win for anybody but rather a defeat for the country that boasts of tolerance and secularism. If comedy can be a crime then what profession can’t be? Of course, jokes and satire should be respectable. But what defines respectable? When you start putting out disclaimer on jokes, you reach the borderline of intolerance. The term 'boycott’ has become the bread and butter of religious fanatics these days. A new boycott hashtag trends on social media everyday. It's high time we addressed the question that where are we heading as a tolerant nation? Because all that’s happening is that we are finding religious loopholes in jokes, comments, statements, movies etc. We were not like this before, orange was just a color until it became a sign board and humour used to lighten us until it started shrinking our minds.