The BJP has threatened to take action against Kunal Kamra for his photograph in a black T-shirt depicting a dog with raised hind leg in a seemingly urinary position with large red letters that could be read as ‘RSS’, which also happens to be the short form of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The photograph posted by the comedian on social media has gone viral.
However, due to the image of the dog strategically obscuring a part of the letter ‘R’, the alphabet would be read as ‘P’ instead of the letter ‘R’ and the set of letters would also appear to be ‘PSS’. The post tweeted along with the photograph on comedian Kunal Kamra’s X handle also read “Not clicked at a comedy club” in a reference to the Habitat Comedy Club that was vandalised by Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena men a few months ago after a video of a parody song performed at the club, which was perceived to have insulted Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, went viral.
On Wednesday, Kamra who used to be a Mumbai resident earlier, posted another picture depicting him wearing another black T-shirt with a fist raising a copy of the Constitution of India with a post on his X account which read, “Outrage doesn’t run this country. The Constitution does…”
Significantly, the BJP considers the RSS as its ideological mentor which is celebrating its centennial this year. A few months ago, RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had stated that a decision must be made to remove the words “socialist” and “secular” from the preamble of the Constitution of India.
Reacting to the earlier picture, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule stated that police action could be taken against those posting “objectionable” content online. “The police will take action against anyone who puts out such objectionable posts,” Bawankule said on Wednesday.
Speaking about the development, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena demanded action against the comedian, who is currently based in Tamil Nadu. Senior party leader and Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat asked alliance partner, BJP, to give a “strong response” to his social media post, reminding the saffron party about Kamra’s controversial remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
“Earlier, he had targeted Prime Minister Modi and Eknath Shinde. Now, he dared to directly attack the RSS. The BJP needs to respond to this,” Maharashtra Minister For Social Justice Sanjay Shirsat and senior Shinde Sena leader said.
Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Shirsat said, “We (Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena) had responded to it (to Kamra’s critical comments on Shinde earlier this year). Now, he has mustered the courage to make an objectionable post against the RSS”.
He also recalled an earlier incident where Kamra sang a parodied version of the lyrics of a well-known Hindi film song called ‘Bholi Si Surat’ from the film ‘Dil To Paagal Hai’ to target Eknath Shinde during a live performance at the Habitat Comedy Club in Khar West in Mumbai. The viral video of that live performance in which comedian Kunal Kamra made controversial remarks on Shinde’s political career led angry party workers to vandalise the Habitat Comedy Club later.
Multiple FIRs have been lodged against the comedian since then. Shinde Sena members went on a manhunt “to teach him a lesson”. They even visited his former Matunga West residence in Mumbai, only to be told that he had relocated to Tamil Nadu.
Later, as Shiv Sena men had harassed Kunal Kamra with frequent telephone calls threatening “to teach him a lesson”, Kamra invited them to Tamil Nadu to settle scores with him.