Vaishnaw justifies police action against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday justified the summons issued to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for references to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, asserting that it should be done if it is required by the law of the land.

Kamra kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra by making caustic remarks against Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, in his show recorded at a studio in Mumbai a few days ago.

Vaishnaw, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, was speaking at an interactive session at the Times Now Summit here.

"If the law of the land requires it, it should be done," he said when asked if summoning of Kamra by the police was "too extreme" an action. 

Vaishnaw said while the Constitution granted citizens certain rights, they were accompanied by some safeguards.

"We have to work within the framework of the Constitution as a society. Freedom of speech and expression is well laid out. Everybody respects it. The Constitution has also laid certain safeguards on it and those safeguards are as important as the rights," Vaishnaw said.

The minister said if everyone followed the safeguards, the society would work in a harmonious way.

"What is right in the western society might not be right in our society. There are different cultural contexts to everything," Vaishnaw said. 

Kamra, without taking Shinde's name, targeted the Deputy CM over his political career, including the 2022 rebellion against the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray which brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Shiv Sena workers vandalised the studio where the stand-up comic performance was held.

The Mumbai Police has registered an FIR against Kamra for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Shinde on a complaint received from a Shiv Sena MLA.