Delhi Police have been slammed after they denied a permit for a live event featuring comedian Munawar Faruqui. The police claimed that the show “will affect communal harmony in the area."
The show was scheduled to be held on August 28 in central Delhi.
The controversial comedian was arrested in January 2021 after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bajrang Dal Hindu group alleged that he had insulted Hindu Gods in a show. He was later released without charges due to a lack of evidence.
The latest cancellation came a day after the Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wrote to Delhi Police threatening to hit the streets unless the show was blocked. Another Hindu group, Bajrang Dal, also warned of holding protests if the police failed to cancel the show.
Reacting to the news, Trinamool Congress Parliamentarian Mahua Moitra called the Delhi Police "spineless."
"Gandhiji [Freedom Fighter Mahatama Gandhi] said, 'I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. Is India@75's [75 years of India's Independence] communal harmony so fragile today that it is disrupted by comedy show?" she wrote.
Netizens have also weighed in, with Faruqi's fans extending their support to the comedian.
Meanwhile, VHP accused Faruqui of "mocking Hindu Gods and Goddesses" in an earlier show held on August 20 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh state.
"Due to him, communal tensions were triggered in Hyderabad," alleged VHP, adding, "now he plans to do [the] same in Delhi."
Large-scale protests erupted in Hyderabad earlier this week after a now-suspended BJP member T Raja Singh uploaded a ten-minute YouTube video insulting the Prophet Mohammad, Faruqui and his mother. Multiple police complaints led to Singh’s arrest.