- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AN Indian comedian has faced a serious backlash for allegedly insulting his country at an event in the US.
Vir Das, one of India’s top satirical performers, is known for his style of critically observing his country.
Das performed a ‘two Indias’ monologue in Washington DC recently and he was accused of insulting his homeland, emboldening critics who feel that India has seen a rising intolerance against minority communities ever since Narendra Modi became its prime minister in 2014 and that freedom of speech has come under threat in the world’s biggest democracy.
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During his performance before a packed audience in the American capital, Das said, “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang rape them at night.
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“I come from an India where we bleed blue every time we play green,” he said, referring to the sporting colours of India and its arch-rival Pakistan. “But every time we lose to green, we turn orange all of a sudden,” he said, mocking the muscular Hindu nationalism which is often symbolised by the colour saffron which resembles orange.
“I come from an India that will watch this and know there is a gigantic joke. It just isn’t funny,” he said.
In a video of the event which ran almost seven minutes, Das covered various issues, ranging from air pollution, journalism, Modi’s coronavirus relief efforts to cricket, the sport India is passionate about.
Soon after he released the video on social media, he was accused of belittling the country on the global stage and at least two police complaints were lodged against the satirist.
B N Tiwari, president of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, decided that their members will not work with Das and the comedian should not be allowed to work on any platform.
Indian actor Kangana Ranaut, who is known for her pro-majority viewpoints, called the video “soft terrorism” and wrote on Instagram that “strict action should be taken against such criminals”.
Das said on Twitter that the video was “a satire about the duality of two separate Indias that do different things.
“Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it,” he said.
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) November 16, 2021
Das is not the first Indian comedian to have faced the wrath of the right-wing Hindu nationalists.
Munawar Faruqui, a comedian from the minority community, was held in prison for over a month in the recent past on charges of insulting Hindu gods and goddesses. Three of his shows in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, were also cancelled recently after a Hindu right-wing group threatened to burn the venue down.
Some noted Indian brands and a reputed fashion designer were also forced to withdraw commercials that were accused of not honouring India’s tradition and rituals.
