The Trinamool Congress on Friday invited stand-up comedian Vir Das to perform in Kolkata a day after his show in Bengaluru was cancelled.
Das’ show was in the Karnataka capital was cancelled three days after Hindutva organisation Hindu Janajagruti Samiti filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Police. The Hindutva body had alleged that the show would hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and show “India in bad light to the world”.
The comedian, who was set to hold the show at 5.30 pm at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Malleshwaram, on Thursday apologised on Instagram to those going to attend the show for the inconvenience. The organiser of the event, YOSN Innovation, cited “unavoidable circumstances” for the cancellation of the show.
Soon after the event was cancelled, Das shared a video on Twitter to clear the air regarding the content of his shows.
On Friday, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien responded to a news report about Das’ video on Twitter and invited him to perform in Kolkata. “We would love to have you here [Kolkata] this winter,” O’Brien tweeted. “DM [direct message] me please. Let’s get this going.”
The Hindutva body had filed a complaint against Das at the Vyalikaval police station, stating “it is not right to allow such a controversial person to hold such a program in a communally sensitive area like Bangalore”.
Mohan Gowda, the spokesperson of the Hindu Janajagruthi Samithi, welcomed the cancellation of the show.
“Because of an agitation by the Hindu organisations, the show has been cancelled,” he said in a statement. “Wherever such people insult Hinduism in the name of comedy should be boycotted.”
In the complaint to the police on Monday, Gowda had claimed that Das had made derogatory remarks about women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “denigrated the nation” during a performance in Washington in November last year.
Gowda had added in the complaint that in his performance, Das had said: “In India, we worship women in the day and rape them at night”.
The show Gowda referred to was titled I come from two Indias. It had sparked a controversy with police complaints being filed against Das in Delhi and Pune. In the 6.53-minute video clip, the comedian had described his version of “two Indias”.
“I come from an India where we laugh so loudly that you can hear us through the walls, and yet...I come from an India where we break down the walls of a comedy club because you can hear laughter inside,” he had said during the performance.
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