That Indians are peculiarly thin-skinned has been proved on a number of occasions. But the dubious honour of possessing the prickliest of skins must go to the Indian politician. Politicians love humour when they are holding the mike in hand. However, when somebody cracks jokes on them, they pull out the defamation lawsuits, threatening to take legal action. The violent reaction to comedian Kunal Kamra’s humorous remarks about Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde is not merely a sign of rising intolerance, it also highlights how such intolerance can escalate beyond police cases into acts of vandalism and open intimidation, aimed at asserting political dominance. Last month, Ranvir Allahbadia courted trouble for his comments on parents and sex on Raina’s popular web show ”India’s Got Latent”. It is an alarming situation where the State acts arbitrarily and sends bulldozers to level a location where a joke was made, and the man who delivered the lines is chased, harassed, and persecuted. The invocation of ‘hurt sentiments’ to justify violent loyalty has gone too far and these claims are being used to legitimise mob attacks, undermining the free and open space essential for democratic discourse.
