After Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists threatened to disrupt a programme featuring stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui at Bandra on Wednesday evening, the artist was dropped from the function at the last moment. Maharashtra's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was the main guest at the function which was held to commemorate 'World Environment Day'
The function was organised by the Bhamla Foundation at the Carter Road amphitheatre as part of a campaign to create awareness about environment pollution caused by littering of plastic waste. The programme was held in partnership with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Maharashtra, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Large enclosures were set up at the site to protect attendees from the rain.
Earlier during the day, the VHP and Bajrang Dal wrote to the local police, asking them to inform the organisers to drop Faruqui from the function. Faruqui has been accused of insulting Hindu deities in his shows. Gautam Ravaria, Konkan province co-convenor of Bajrang Dal, said they did not oppose the programme. "We are opposing this person. We had requested that law and order should not be disrupted and the administration should immediately talk to the head of this organisation and stop this person from coming to the programme; otherwise Bajrang Dal will play its role and protest," said Ravaria who added that a few hundred activists from the groups were there at the site. More than a thousand members of the public attended the function.
Saher Bhamla of the Bhamla Foundation said that Faruqui did not attend. Bhamla declined to comment further. The police is reported to have informed the organisers to drop Faruqui from the programme. Faruqui, winner of a couple of reality shows on television, was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police in January 2021 after complaints that he mocked Hindu deities at a show there. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court after he spent more than a month in prison. The case against him is pending in a local court. On March 26, 2024, he was arrested in Mumbai during a raid on an illegal hookah joint. He was later released on bail.
Later in the evening, Shriraj Nair, spokesperson for VHP, said in a message on 'X': We @BajrangDalOrg are greatful to @MumbaiPolice for ensuring this repeated offender (Faruqui) whatever for ensuring that he doesn't reach the venue ..@Asifbhamlaa Pl ensure you don't indulge in such irresponsible act of inviting such rogue elements.
