With comedian Munawar Faruqui announcing another show in Hyderabad after a previously cancelled show in January this year, the BJP in Telangana has once again called for stopping the event. Controversial BJP MLA from Goshamahal T Raja Singh, who frequently makes anti-Muslim hate speeches, threatened to beat up Munawar and burn down the venue if the show was allowed to take place. Earlier in January, BJP leaders had similarly made threats that they would not allow Munawar’s January 9 show to happen, alleging that the comedian had made jokes on Hindu gods and hurt Hindu sentiments. Eventually, the show was cancelled citing COVID-19 regulations.
On Wednesday, August 10, Munawar posted on his Instagram account that he will perform his show ‘Dongri to Nowhere’ in Hyderabad on August 20. The venue is yet to be announced. Making disparaging remarks on Munawar, Raja Singh said, “In the past too, our idiot Minister KTR offered police protection and invited him, saying his event will be a great success. But even then, when Hindu groups across Telangana united to threaten him, they got scared and cancelled the event.”
“See what will happen if they invite him (Munawar). Wherever the program is, we will go and beat him up. Whoever offers him a venue, we will burn it down. If something goes wrong, KTR and the government and police are responsible,” Raja Singh said. “We will definitely beat him up and send him back if he comes to Telangana, this is a challenge,” he added.
Munawar was earlier set to perform his show ‘Dhandho’ in Hyderabad in January 2022. It was announced following Telangana Minister and TRS working president KTR’s open invitation to the comedian, after his show in Bengaluru was previously cancelled following similar threats from Hindu groups. The show that was cancelled in Bengaluru was also ‘Dongri to Nowhere’, which he had performed in the city three times before. At the time, KTR took a jibe at the BJP government in Karnataka and said that Hyderabad was a truly cosmopolitan city, where standup comedians get an open invite and their shows weren’t cancelled due to political differences.