Comedian Munawar Faruqui's announcement that he would be quitting doing stand-up comedy received widespread support from diverse sets of people. Fellow stand-up comics in particular, expressed their solidarity for Faruqui and stressed on how dangerous it had become to do comedy in the present scenario.
Comic Arpit Sharma, however, said that what's happening to Faruqui shouldn't just be attributed to the larger efforts to suppress comedy. He emphasised that it was largely to do with Faruqui being a Muslim.
"If his name wasn't Munawar but Mukesh or Manish, the outrage would have been far lesser. If you are running away from this fact, then keep running," Sharma says in a video for The Quint.
According to him, Munawar's identity and his popularity are the main reason behind right wing groups hounding him.
"Munawar isn't being targeted for the jokes he never made, he is being targeted for the claps he earns," Sharma said.
Faruqui had announced his decision to quit stand-up comedy, after several of his shows in places like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Raipur were cancelled following threats from right wing groups.
Sharma has consistently being speaking out in support of Faruqui on social media. Soon after Faruqui's announcement that he plans to quit stand-up comedy, Sharma had tweeted, "As an Artist, If I had ‘Khan’, ‘Farooqui’ or ‘Kappan’ as my surname, I would have had a different story altogether on Social Media. I know I get that escape gate being a Hindu. But I always ensure that I utilise this privilege for truth and justice. With You Bhai," he wrote tagging Faruqui.
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