The organisers of Gurgaon Comedy Festival in Haryana on Monday removed comedian Munawar Faruqui from their list of performers after they got several calls and messages opposing his participation, reported The Indian Express.
Faruqui was supposed to participate in a three-day festival, scheduled to start from December 17 at Airia Mall.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Haryana head of information technology department Arun Yadav filed a police complaint against Faruqui on Monday, saying that Faruqui had been continuously hurting the feelings of Hindu community during his live performances and shows.
“To maintain peace and harmony between different sections of the society, I request you to look into the matter and stop him,” Yadav wrote in his complaint. “His activities have offended my Hindu faith.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police Aman Yadav said, “A complaint has been received against Faruqui, raising objection to his participation in a festival to be held in Gurgaon and regarding content of some of his videos online.”
He added that the police will discuss the complaint with the organisers and mall authorities before taking action, the Hindustan Times reported.
Mubin Tisekar, the co-founder of The Entertainment Factory, which is organising the Gurgaon Comedy Festival, said that the event managers removed Faruqui from the show’s line-up as they did not want to hurt anyone’s sentiments or put the audience in danger, The Indian Express reported.
“The decision was taken yesterday and we made changes on the poster and ticketing platform,” he added.
Tisekar, however, said that he did not want to comment on who was calling or complaining about Faruqui’s involvement in the show.
Twelve shows involving Faruqui have been cancelled in the last two months. His last show in Bengaluru that was scheduled for November 28, did not take place due to “threats of vandalism” to the venue. It had led to Faruqui sharing a note on Instagram indicating that he might have to quit being a comedian.
Faruqui was arrested in January in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city before a show as Hindutva groups complained to the police that he was going to make offensive jokes about Hindu gods.
Over the past two months, Faruqui’s shows have been cancelled in Raipur, Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Goa, and Mumbai as Hindutva groups have targeted him.
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‘Hatred won, an artist lost,’ says comedian Munawar Faruqui as his Bengaluru show gets cancelled
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