Comedian Munawar Faruqi has hinted at an exit from comedy after his show in Bengaluru on Sunday was cancelled due to vandalisation threats from right-wing fringe outfits.Soon, Faruqi took to his Instagram to pour his heart out to his followers and said that at least 12 of his shows in the past have been cancelled."Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya. (Hate won, an artist has lost), I'm done! Goodbye," Faruqui wrote. For the unversed, Faruqui spent a month in jail earlier this year on charges of "insulting Hindu gods and goddesses" during one of his comedy shows.
In a letter to the organiser Good Shepherd auditorium today, the Bengaluru Police referred to Mr Faruqui's show "Dongri to Nowhere" and said Mr Faruqui is a "controversial figure". Mohan Gowda of the Hindu Jagran Samiti in Bengaluru also said they won't allow the show to be held.Following this, Mr Faruqui in the Instagram post said they had sold over 600 tickets for the Bengaluru event but the show has been cancelled due to "threats of vandalism"."Aaj Bangalore show cancel ho gaya (under the threats of venue vandalism). We sold 600+ tickets. Month back my team called late Puneeth Rajkumar sir organisation for charity which we will be going to generate from this show in Bangalore. We agreed to not sell the show on the name of charity as suggested by the noble organisation," Mr Faruqui said."Putting me in jail for the joke I never did to cancelling my shows, which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair. This show has gained so much love from people in India irrespective of their religion. This is unfair. We do have censor certificate of the show and it's clearly nothing problematic in the show. We called off 12 shows in the last two months because of threats to venue and audience," the comedian said in the long Instagram post.