Kunal Kamra row: One should speak within given rights, Dy CM Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Monday that no one should go beyond the law as the Constitution rules, and one should speak within the given rights.

Pawar, while reacting to the controversy over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s “gaddar” jibe at Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, said, “Differences of opinion may exist, but adequate care should be taken to ensure that the police department does not have to intervene due to their statements.”

Shiv Sena has protested strongly and a group of party activists indulged in vandalism as they damaged chairs and the entire set at the ‘Unicontinental Mumbai’ hotel in Mumbai’s Khar.

“Meri nazar se tum dekho to gaddar nazar wo aaye. Haaye,” Kamra said during his show. He mocked Eknath Shinde using a modified version of a Hindi song from “Dil To Pagal Hai”, eliciting laughter from the audience. The comedian shared the video clip on the social networking platform X. Kamra alluded to Eknath Shinde’s 2022 rebellion, which led to the split of Shiv Sena into the Shinde faction and the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

Shiv Sena leader and former Minister Aditya Thackeray in support of Kamra wrote on X: “Mindhe’s coward gang breaks the comedy show stage where comedian @kunalkamra88 put out a song on eknath mindhe which was 100% true.Only an insecure coward would react to a song by someone. Btw law and order in the state? Another attempt to undermine the CM and Home Minister by eknath mindhe.”

However, Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske alleged that Kamra has accepted money from Thackeray and is targeting the Dy CM Shinde. “Kamra is a contract comedian. But he should not have stepped on the tail of a snake. Once the fangs are out, there will be dire consequences…We will make sure you cannot move freely throughout the country. We are Shiv Sainiks of the late Balasaheb Thackeray. If we start following you, you will have to leave the country,” he said.

Further, another MP Milind Deora in his post on X, “Mocking Eknath Shinde ji – a self-made leader who went from being an auto driver to leading India’s second-largest state-reflects classist arrogance. India is rejecting entitled dynasts and their sycophantic ecosystem that falsely claims to stand for meritocracy and democracy.”

–IANS