UP CM Yogi Adityanath reacts to Kunal Kamra’s personal attack on Maha DyCM Eknath Shinde
UP CM Yogi Adityanath reacts to Kunal Kamra’s personal attack on
Maha DyCM Eknath Shinde
Over an interview UP CM Yogi Adityanath claimed that ‘Freedom
of expression cannot be used to mount “personal attacks. The interview was aired on
Wednesday morning, referring to comedian Kunal Kamra and his ‘gaddar’ joke about Maha Dy CM Deput Eknath Shinde.
But unfortunately, some people think it is their birthright to use this freedom to tear the country apart and widen the division,” the firebrand BJP leader said on the political row around Mr Kamra’s remarks.
The comedian – who on Monday told Mumbai Police he did not regret making the joke and would only apologise if ordered to by the courts – has told NDTV he has since received 500 threatening calls.
In a show shot at the Habitat Comedy Club (now demolished by the Mumbai civic body over alleged building violations) in Mumbai’s Khar, Mr Kamra played out a satirical version of a popular Bollywood song – ‘bholi si surat’ – from the 1997 blockbuster ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’.
The satire referred to the word ‘gaddar’, or ‘traitor’, which was seen as a reference to Mr Shinde splitting the Shiv Sena in 2022 and joining hands with the BJP. This, in turn, led to the Uddhav Thackeray-led government losing power in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath also unleashed multiple attacks on the Congress – from allegations it “used billionaire George Soros’ money” to try and influence the 2024 Lok Sabha election” to calling the party’s Karnataka government’s four per cent Muslim quota bill an “insult to Babsaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution”.
“They (the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc) spread propaganda… they not only spread it, but foreign money was also involved. Soros long ago announced it…” he said, referring to reports the business mogul had vowed to bring down Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“I am saying that foreign money was involved in the Lok Sabha election throughout the country, in which the Congress and other parties of the INDIA bloc were directly, or indirectly, involved… through that they tried to influence the election. This is equal to treason,” he declared.
The allegations exploded in December after the BJP and Congress bosses, JP Nadda and Mallikarjun Kharge, faced off in Parliament over ‘links’ between the Soros-funded Forum of the Democratic Leaders in Asia Pacific Foundation and Sonia Gandhi, the forum’s co-chief.
This was after the BJP called Rahul Gandhi a “traitor” and said Mr Soros, “some American agencies” (which also funded the OCCRP) and he were trying to destabilise India.
The Congress has, equally firmly, rubbished the BJP’s claims and those of any link between the party, senior leaders like Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi, and any “anti-India” narrative.
News Edit KV Raman
