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Walking the Line: How free is the
‘Right to Free Speech’ ?
2-min read | December 10, 2021
A country whose Constitution grants freedom to profess, proclaim and protest is the same country where stand-up comedians are criticised for allegedly spreading hate speech in the name of humour.
Vir Das, a 42-year-old Indian stand-up comedian, received major backlash for his ‘Two-Indias’ monologue that he performed at the Kennedy Centre in Washington. The video he posted on YouTube gained mixed responses. However, several Indians accused Das of vilifying India’s name on a foreign soil, further, resulting in a police complaint by a ruling party member.
In an interview with NDTV, he explained how the monologue was a piece of satire and had to be taken like one. On the contrary, will he want to be careful next time? No, he states that this episode won’t stop him from making comedy and will continue to make people laugh irrespective of the consequences in the hope that people watch his shows in its entirety.
source: Twitter / @Sharanya Shettyy
On the other hand, 29-year-old Munawar Faruqui issued a statement on his twitter stating his withdrawal from the world of stand-up comedy. He decided to leave stand-up comedy after his show was cancelled by the Bengaluru police on receiving constant threats. In fact, Ashok Nagar police station in central Bengaluru was the one who sent a letter to the organisers of the show to cancel the show owing to vandalism threats.
source: Munawar Faruqui / Facebook
Faruqui’s tweet stated that a portion of the proceeds of the show was going to a women’s rehabilitation centre called ‘Shakthidhama’ that was founded by the late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar.
His tweet also mentioned his ‘unfair arrest’ where Faruqui and three more comedians were arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments at a stand-up comedy show in Indore, Madhya Pradesh but, in Faruqui’s case, he didn’t deliver the joke although he had allegedly prepared it. In fact, the bail applications were rejected twice and he was kept in lockup for more than a month which led to the cancellation of several shows across India. Due to this, Munawar Faruqui decided to bid adieu to stand-up comedy.
The only difference between the two cases of Vir Das and Munawar Faruqui is that Das faced menial consequences for a video he posted online; however, Faruqui was arrested and mentally harassed for a joke he didn’t even crack which also explains how religion plays a vital role in freedom of expression and its consequences.
This isn’t the first-time stand-up comedians have been suppressed and called ‘anti-nationalists’ due to satire. A twitter user stated, “Ask not why Vir Das made that speech in Washington, ask why he did not make that speech in India”. It all boils down to choosing if stand-up comedy is mere freedom of speech or spreading hate speech? The answer you choose is the India you belong to.
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