New Delhi: Stand up comedian Kunal Kamra’s show in Surat was cancelled on Saturday after some “local youth” disrupted the preparation for the show and prevented people from entering Shree Surti Modhvanik Wadi, the venue. The show was scheduled for 9 pm, but at around 7 pm, people apparently aligned with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) arrived at the venue and told the organisers the show would not be allowed to happen.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Mubin Tisekar, the show’s producer, said those who disrupted the event threatened the organisers and prevented even ticket-holding crowd from entering the venue. Tisekar is also the owner of The Entertainment Factory, the company organising Kamra’s Surat show.
He told the Indian Express that while the organisers were setting up the equipment, “some people came around 7 pm and began taking away our instruments and our sound system”. If the organisers plan to hold the event, the disruptors threatened to throw tomatoes and eggs at Kamra and would prevent him from performing, Tisekar said.
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Mahidharpura police inspector P.A. Arya told the newspaper that the organisers had not taken police permission for the show. “The organisers had booked the hall online and not taken police permission for the show,” he said.
While acknowledging that there was “some problem” between the organising the show and “some of local youths”, he said the issue was later “sorted out through mutual understanding”. Arya also claimed that “the standup comedian artist did not come”.
Meanwhile, a person who tried to attend the show posted a series of tweets, saying the disruptors were aligned to Hindu outfits and that they called Kamra “anti-Hindu” and “anti-national”. He said the people who disrupted the show were also making Islamophobic statements.
In July last year, Kamra’s show in a Vadodara university was also cancelled because of complaints from a group of former students. They claimed that the standup comedian was ‘anti-national’ and suspected the show was a “some ideological conspiracy to pollute the minds of Barodian youth `ahead of 2019 elections”.