'Spineless Delhi Police': TMC MP Mahua Moitra after Munawar Faruqui denied licence for show

TMC leader Mahua Moitra criticises VHP and Delhi Police for denying Munawar Faruqui a performing license for his show in Delhi.

Image Credit: ANI

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra criticises the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Delhi police for refusing to allow Munawar Faruqui to perform his scheduled event in Delhi on August 28. In the tweet Mahua quoted, Gandhiji said “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.”  In addition, she wrote, “Is India@75’s communal harmony so fragile today that it is disrupted by comedy shows?”

VHP bullies spineless @Delhipolice, cancel @munawar0018 show.

Gandhiji said “ I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.”

Is India@75’s communal harmony so fragile today that is is disrupted by comedy show? — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) August 27, 2022

Munawar Faruqui, a stand-up comedian, was denied permission by Delhi Police to conduct his planned gig on August 28 in the nation's capital. The local central district police issued a report claiming that "the show may impact communal peace in the neighbourhood," and the Delhi Police licencing section declined the request. 

Munawar has been facing this backlash for quite a long time now. According to OP Mishra, Joint Commissioner of Police for Licensing, the show's licence has been denied. To request the cancellation of Faruqui's performance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora on August 25.

According to the VHP's letter, "Communal tension arose in Bhagyanagar because of Munawar`s jokes on Hindu Gods." Furthermore, the VHP letter stated that members of the Bajrang Dal and VHP would stage protests if the event was not cancelled.

Munawar Faruqui conducted a stand-up comedy concert in Hyderabad last Saturday under heavy security. Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the leader of the Telangana BJP, had called for a boycott of the programme, stating that Faruqui had made fun of Hindu deities.

T Raja Singh, a Telangana BJP lawmaker who has been suspended for his comments on the Prophet in a video broadcast on social media, was detained earlier this week. Singh claimed that his video was a retort to Faruqui's performance in Hyderabad. In Telangana, protests broke out as a result of Singh's purported comments about the Prophet.

Faruqui's concert in Bengaluru had been cancelled by the local police when they discovered that the event's organisers had not received permission to hold it in advance. Faruqui participated in the reality show "Lock-Upp," which Kangana Ranaut hosted, in May this year and was crowned the winner after receiving more than 18 lakh votes.

On January 1, Madhya Pradesh police detained Faruqui and four other people after receiving a complaint from Eklavya Singh Gaud, the son of BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud, alleging that offensive remarks were made on New Year's Day during a comedy show at a cafe in Indore about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Munawar Faruqui was later released on bail.

(with agency inputs)