How many more Munawars to go?

A standup comic can either kill it or bomb on stagemdashdepending on how the show went Yet the comedian is furthest from a terrorist for they indulge in joketelling which is actually the opposite of violenceMeaning using wordsmdashthrough rhetorichyperboleexaggeration observational humour or plain satiremdashto respond to the world we live in As an audience you enjoy agreedisagree and obtain your timersquos worth or get bored smugly smirk and move on The best answer to standup comedy is standup comedy still An eye for an eye here implying a word for a word and this can go across to other fields too like say in journalismmdashhopefully an NDTV to a Republic a The Wire to an OpIndia a CNN to a Fox News etc Choice is yours Likewise with other media loha lohe ko kaatta hai as they say You donrsquot bring a swordto play cricketWhen does simple art based on multiple expressions turn into a political act Chiefly when anybodyrsquos right to take offence supersedes someonersquos right to expressmdashthrough threatscosts economic ruin being foremost if the latter doesnrsquot step back or STFUWhat good is the right to freedom of speech and expressionmdashdetailed in the Constitution in turn defining a nationmdashif it does not religiously protect against people taking offence If everyone agreed on everything that fundamental right to free speechexpression wouldrsquove been unnecessary no Also tell me a joke that doesnrsquot offendAnd yet over the past few yearsmdashmuch of it has to do with social media undisclosed portions of it hijacked by paid armies for political endsmdashthe drill to kill the Constitution has been so familiar itrsquos turned into a lame joke that bears repetition nonethelessWhether itrsquos ads films standup comedies or personal blogs publicshaming trolls take over to show the creator their place under the sun which is to disturbingly hide in dread and disbelief The offended although in their personal capacity but claiming to represent a massive majority in a mobocracy pretending to be democracy often hurl charges that are weirder stillFor instance if ldquoHindusrdquo have apparently been hurt by an ad those pushing back to say they werenrsquot are termed ldquoliberalsrdquo and therefore ldquoHinduphobesrdquo Only that most of these socalled liberals are Hindus themselves as for most of India itself which is like calling a Jew a holocaust denier or a Sikh a 1984 sympathiserIn case of an ad the corporate firm by far the meekest corner of Indian society bearing the brunt instantly calls off the commercial fearing loss of reputation or market share Victory bugles go off until the next round begins There is a minimum of one such easy distraction every week How many more to goFor vulnerable individual artistesmdashfrom bloggers standup comics to filmmakersmdashthe fear appears even more real At least one of them I met recently told me repeating until she was sure ldquoItrsquos off the record Irsquom totally frdquoWhy Because nobody knows which of those scary threats to life on Twittersocial media could have direct consequences in real life There is one such easy distraction every day How many more Vir Dases or selfproclaimed Weirdasses to go Dasrsquos defence against people taking offence to his joke is itrsquos really thatmdasha joke So what if it wasnrsquot thoughStuffy selfcensorship is upon arts as a result already Irsquove watched Das test his material once at a rehearsal before a private group He hardly goes half the distance to push the envelope on stage as he does in a practice session Thatrsquos a cricketer twice as good on the nets as before a stadium crowd In all of this there are those who speak up berating those who donrsquotmdashseriously canrsquot tell whyOn the ground the supposedly offended groups like multiheaded hydra with ever changing names for Manch and Sena multiply prefixed with the name of a community they claim to represent One such wrote to the Bengaluru police to cancel a show of standup comedian Munawar Faruqui 30 whorsquos once been bizarrely jailed for cracking a joke he never did in IndoreHersquos reportedly performed the Bengaluru set in Bengaluru itself Even had his script passed in Maharashtra which continues with a regressive law for stage performances Never mind that the Supreme Court says you donrsquot need police permission to perform in private In this case 600plus people whorsquod bought tickets but arenrsquot an armedvigilante group or from a wider organisation equipped to equally defend their right to not feel offended by jokes The police feared the mob Canned show Forfeiting their monopoly over violence Making the state seem redundant How many more Munawars to goWhile it is the state more than courts that is designed to negotiate between folks who wish to do something and others whorsquore not being forced into it anywayWhat good is the state that is unable to save citizens from a mob then As good as Brits who gave Rushdie headofstate level security against Islamic fundamentalists Equally baffling is ldquostrategic silencerdquo on most such matters by political parties opposed to the government Cementing a perception that there is no alternativeI disagree with Dasrsquos lsquoTwo Indiasrsquo sixminute monologue that seemed as if it was breaking up India itself Nope there is really only one India Worth protecting surelyMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper