NEW DELHI: Maharashtra’s junior home minister Yogesh Kadam on Monday told the state assembly that the government would be checking call record details and bank statements of comic Kunal Kamra, who landed in trouble for indirectly calling deputy CM Eknath Shinde a “gaddar” (traitor) at a Mumbai show.
“Call recordings along with CDRs, as well as bank statements of comedian Kunal Kamra, will also be checked. We will find out who is behind this,” Maharashtra MoS Home, Yogesh Kadam said in assembly, according to news agency ANI.
Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam alleged that rival Uddhav Sena funded the comic’s show in a Mumbai studio, where the remark was made.
Calling Kamra’s remark against Shinde a “low-level comment”, Nirupam claimed money for the show came from Matoshree, the official residence of Uddhav Thackeray.
The Shiv Sena leader also issued a sharp warning to Kamra, saying “people are searching for him, but we have come to know that he is not in Mumbai and has probably fled from here. We will not leave him until he apologises”.
“In the name of stand-up comedy, he has made a very low-level comment on our supreme leader, Eknath Shinde. The place where this show was recorded and the booking money for it came from Matoshree, from Uddhav Thackeray, and that is why Eknath Shinde Sahab has been targeted,” Nirupam claimed.
During his stand-up show, Kamra performed a parody of a popular Hindi song from “Dil To Pagal Hai,” referring to Shinde as a “gaddar“. He also made jokes about recent political developments in Maharashtra, including party splits within Shiv Sena and NCP.
“Meri nazar se tum dekho to gaddar nazar wo aaye. Haaye,” Kunal Kamra said during his show. “Shiv Sena first came out of the BJP, then Shiv Sena came out of Shiv Sena. NCP came out of NCP, they gave nine buttons to one voter… everyone got confused,” he added.
Reacting to Kamra’s remarks, Shiv Sena workers on Sunday vandalised a hotel in Mumbai’s Khar area. The vandals ransacked Hotel Unicontinental in Khar area where the show was shot.