AA Edit | No Country for Comedy

Lampooning a politician should not be judged a crime, not when a comedian aims his satire at netas, as is his wont. Anyone who feels outraged has a recourse through courts and the laws of civil and criminal defamation. But to see the executive overreact to a poor and essentially crude political barb at a senior functionary of the Maharashtra government was to understand the extent to which power can be misused.

Social media negativity is something everyone suffers from in this age of ultra-instant communication, more so women who are invariably harshly judged. To take umbrage at being made fun of and aim to take the issue to the Speaker of the legislature, as the Maharashtra CM did after comedian Kunal Kamra’s barb at Eknath Shinde, betrays the intolerance of netas who wither when the joke is on them.

The police, who are expected to first judge whether a crime has been committed before they act, are guilty of genuflecting before their political masters. The comedian was guilty of throwing a borrowed political barb at a deputy CM for which he must face the outrage, provided the duelling is by way of speech rather than retaliatory use of executive power, that too on a third party like a recording studio which may have no control over the content of shows.

True, India does not support unfettered free speech as the freedom of speech and expression is subject to reasonable restrictions as defined in Article 19 of the Constitution. What is “reasonable” might be subject to who sits in judgment on the issue. Invariably, the outrage is felt and expressed most by netas of all hues and many of them, including regional satraps, bristle at criticism aimed at them through satire.

Indian comedians might feel they are constrained more than their counterparts in First World countries where free speech is not just a concept or lines in the statute and they must be prepared to deal with it when those who are targets of their comedy push back.

In an ideal world, the worst of insults may die down soon, but in India those who poke fun at power must be prepared to receive not just bouquets. Comedians, just by being made subjects of libel suits, may suffer as the process itself is the punishment if multiple cases in various jurisdictions are filed against them as so often happens in India.