New Delhi: Munawar Faruqui’s shows have previously been cancelled in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune. Now, the comedian has been denied permission by Delhi Police to perform in the national Capital on Sunday.
The central district police said the show will affect communal harmony in the area, ANI reported.
It was scheduled to take place at Dr SPM Civic Centre’s Kedarnath Sahni Auditorium. The privately organized programme had been given the go-ahead earlier.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra dubbed Delhi Police ‘spineless’ for its decision.
The Lok Sabha MP invoked Mahatma Gandhi and 75 years of India’s independence, tweeting: “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 it is disrupted by comedy show?”
VHP Delhi president Surendra Kumar Gupta, objecting to the comedy show, had written to the police commissioner claiming that Faruqui mocks Hindu gods in his shows, and squarely blamed him for the recent clashes in Hyderabad.
Asking Delhi Police to cancel the show, the VHP leader warned of protests if it was allowed to take place.
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Faruqui performed in Hyderabad last week amid heavy security, after now-suspended Telangana BJP leader T Raja Singh threatened to burn down the venue if the comedian was allowed to perform in Hyderabad.
Raja Singh was briefly detained with some other BJP workers on August 20. He then posted a video where he made some derogatory comments against the Prophet, which triggered massive protests in Hyderabad.
Raja was suspended by his party and arrested again on August 23. He secured bail, but posted another video saying he might be arrested again and that he is not scared of going to jail.
Faruqui, who was arrested in Indore last year, is seen as a law and order issue for some city police forces, and hence his shows are getting cancelled.
