Maharashtra: Kamra’s stinging barbs and the off-key BJP reaction

Why is the BJP so subdued about Kunal Kamra’s new Naya Bharat video? Why is the entire focus of BJP leaders, supporters and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on the minute-long song sequence on deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde? When, in fact, the better part of the 45-minute video lampoons the BJP government, the party and its leaders, not sparing even the prime minister. No outrage over the mocking references to the ‘party with a difference’, or the comments on BJP chief ministers with reference to Gujarat and Manipur, or even the prime minister being seen as an autocrat.

Instead, the BJP is more offended by Kamra’s swipe at Shinde. In the state assembly, Fadnavis demanded an apology from Kamra for maligning Shinde as a gaddar (traitor). While Shiv Sena (Shinde) ministers Yogesh Kadam and Gulab Patil warned that Kamra would be forced to pay a price, that his bank accounts and call data records would be scrutinised, BJP ministers and MLAs were relatively subdued.

It was left to Shinde himself to point out that he was not the only one targeted, that even the prime minister, industrialists (Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra) and the home minister were not spared.

While Shinde’s supporters are incandescent with rage over the video alluding to ‘misappropriation’ of the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray, father of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, BJP supporters come across as meditating Buddhas.

Their calm has not been disturbed by Kamra’s swipes at the PM’s alleged fascination with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Nor have they lost their shirt over Kamra’s provocative reference to third-rate tea served at railway stations in the 1970s. Four of the five songs that form the last 15-minute segment of the 45-minute video, make fun of the BJP and the BJP government.

And yet, no reaction from the BJP is curious, to say the least — some would say it’s ominous. Both Fadnavis and Shinde have waxed eloquent on the limits of ‘freedom of speech’ and how freedom is not a licence. They have spoken of the need for a sense of responsibility and the undesirability of maligning others. They seem to have completely missed the irony of their spectacular inaction against hate speech by their own colleagues. Last year, at least 210 hate speeches were recorded in Maharashtra, when speakers, some of them ministers and MLAs, threatened Muslims with brutal violence, boycott and extermination.

Neither Fadnavis nor Shinde ever asked any of those speakers to apologise for their words. Politicians are evidently not accountable for their words or actions but comedians are accountable for their jokes. Both Fadnavis and Shinde failed to condemn the vandalism by Shinde supporters in the presence of the police. Every action has a reaction, justified Shinde, while speaking to the BBC. Fadnavis, who is also the home minister, had nothing to say on the passive role played by the police.

“For a chief minister, it is a duty to uphold and protect citizens’ freedom without pontificating about how to use freedom. How can a CM deflect the issue by not talking about the violent attack and then talk about how to exercise freedom?” wondered Suhas Palshikar, columnist and political commentator.

Kamra added insult to injury by pointing out that he had just repeated what the other deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, had said about Shinde being a gaddar. He continues to embarrass the politicians by releasing short clips from the video on a daily basis, one song a day, on social media.

The kneejerk reaction of the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) in demolishing parts of the Habitat Comedy Club, where the original show was held in January, triggered unanticipated reactions from Mumbaikars. “If we need any illegal encroachments removed in Mumbai, all we need to do is call in a comedian to stand there and crack some jokes. A BMC assistant commissioner himself will come and demolish the illegal structure. My BMC, One Big Joke,” said an irate citizen. Nobody has yet come up, however, with a plausible explanation on the BJP’s rather mild reaction to Kamra. What gives?

Pro-BJP TV presenter and channel owner Rajat Sharma, known for his proximity to the BJP top brass, innocently tweeted that Shinde had been called a traitor even earlier, so why the outrage now? Indeed, Uddhav Thackeray loyalists had popularised the phrase ‘pannas khoke, ekdum okay’ (referring to the alleged Rs 50 crore paid to Shinde and his MLAs after they split from the party).

Sharma also condemned the violence unleashed by Shiv Sainiks loyal to Shinde, who proudly recalls his baptism into 'thokshahi' by mentors like Anand Dighe, a protégé of Balasaheb. By turning the spotlight on Shinde, Sharma and BJP loyalists may have tried to divert attention from Kamra’s broadsides at the BJP; or it may indicate a degree of political maturity and acceptance of dissent, which appears highly unlikely.

The attempt may also be designed to tarnish Shinde’s public image further. Kamra’s songs are already being sung on the streets by Uddhav loyalists; and the searing satire is certain to be used against Shinde in the local body elections, which are overdue by three years. The BJP and Fadnavis will be only too happy to marginalise Shinde and hence are amplifying the satirical attack on him. Shinde himself seems convinced that the comedian has been paid to do a hit job on him.

There is also little doubt that the video has armed the Shiv Sena (UBT) with ammunition to take on Shinde, who is already feeling cornered in the NDA. It is not clear though if there is any truth in the speculation that the BJP is now keen to dump Shinde and move back to Uddhav Thackeray in order to break the Opposition unity. Could this be a part of the design to show Shinde his place?

More ominously, Fadnavis has drawn a parallel between 'urban Naxals' and political satire. Kamra’s satire, he said, is akin to attacks by urban Naxals, the CM’s pet theme. Uprooted from the countryside, urban Naxals are the new threat, he has been saying over several months. While an amused Marathi journalist wondered what could possibly motivate an urban Naxal to describe Shinde as a traitor, Fadnavis cannot be taken lightly.

A new law to counter ‘urban naxalism’ is on the anvil in the state and the government has sought public opinion on this by 31 March. The proposed law, with draconian punishments, is likely to be presented in the next legislature session. While Maharashtra is not known any longer for Naxal violence, which recurred only once in the district of Gadchiroli, the renewed attack on urban Naxals, it is suspected, is aimed at silencing political dissent.

Fadnavis has also mooted the idea of a cell or a committee to keep close watch on the media so that legal action can be initiated against those who write and publish news critical of the government. Journalists in Mumbai and the state, largely immune until now from the censorship and surveillance of the media in the north, are alarmed.

Meetings are being held to discuss how this black law can be stopped. It was during his last term as chief minister that lawyers, activists, singers and journalists were implicated and jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case. In his second term, Fadnavis appears to be preparing for a wider onslaught.