One of the prominent Muslim artists in India, Munawar Faruqi has been facing the brunt of the fascist Modi government for more than a year now.
After several shows of the artist were cancelled by the police under the pressure of a right-wing group, Faruqi’s recent show scheduled in Bengaluru on Sunday was called off too, drawing criticism and disappointment from many social media users. According to The Indian Express, the Bengaluru police denied permission saying that the show could create law and order problems.
The Ashoknagar police wrote to the organisers a day before the show that Faruqui is a controversial figure and cited cases registered against him in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore and other states, claiming that many states have banned his shows in the past. The police also maintained that they have credible information that several organisations are opposing the show and this could create chaos and disturb public peace and harmony.
In response, Faruqui shared he was done fighting injustice. He tweeted, “Nafrat jeet hai, Artist haar gaya (Hate wins, the artist lost). I’m done! Goodbye! INJUSTICE”.
He wrote, “We were planning to hold the show. We wanted to give a portion of the proceeds from the show to Shakthidhama, a women’s rehabilitation centre that the late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar was involved with. We had also held talks with the actor’s team. We are disappointed that the show was stopped abruptly by the police at the last minute.”
The police’s action caused an outrage on social media, with Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor terming it a “deplorable act”.
Faruqi was arrested in January for allegedly “hurting religious sentiments and insulting the faith” through his work – both crimes under India’s penal code. He was put behind bars for a comment he never made.
Even without proof, the standup comedian was put into police custody after being beaten up by a Hindutva vigilante group called the Hind Rakshak Sangathan in Uttar Pradesh. The assault was led by Aklavya Singh Gaur, the chief of the organisation and son of a BJP MLA on January 1.
While one would assume Faruqi’s problems would have ended by now, another case has now been dug up against him, hanging his career – and his life – by a thread.
