After noted standup comedian Munawar Faruqui’s shows were cancelled on Sunday, netizens were as furious as Faruqui for denying the artiste permission to perform. Singer MD Pallavi termed the incident “very unfortunate”. “It is one thing to take offence about something, but another thing to not allow an artiste to perform. That’s total injustice. I thought Bengaluru was more accommodating than this. It is a city where all kinds of artistes performed with an open mind. But what happened on Sunday in my city was shocking,” she says.   

Theatre practitioner 

Abhishek Iyengar was also “shocked” at the cancellation of the show. “Irrespective of an artiste’s ideologies, he/she must be allowed to perform. All of this is so new and Bengaluru now is not the city I knew. Why do people jump to conclusions about the content? Every artsite has a right to perform,” he says. Writer Raghu Karnad took to Twitter to question the decision. “What does it even mean that “many states have been banned his comedy shows” (sic)? Banned how, under what law? (sic).”

Meanwhile, Faruqui took to social media to call it quits as a comic. He tweeted, “Nafrat jeet hai, Artist haar gaya (hate won, artiste lost). I’m done! Goodbye! Injustice. Putting me in jail for the joke to cancelling my shows which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair. We called off 12 shows in the last two months because of the threats to venue and audience. I think this my end (sic).”