Hyderabad: Standup comedian Daniel Fernandes cancelled his show in Hyderabad, part of his comedy special tour “Do you know who I am?,” which was scheduled to take place at 4 pm on June 29 following violent threats from the Goshamahal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Raja Singh.
The comedian stirred controversy after he allegedly made fun of Delhi’s recent unusual incident wherein some members of the Jain community dressed up as Muslims and purchased goats for Rs 15 lakh to ‘save’ them from being sacrificed on Bakrid (June 17).
“We have to reschedule tonight’s show in Hyderabad because of the unrest caused by my last video,” Fernandes said in a post on Instagram.
“The video has been taken down and I posted an apology today. However, we are still receiving calls, messages, and emails, threatening us with violence and vandalism,” he said. Earlier, Fernandes had posted an apology to the Jain community for his words on Instagram by stating that he did not intend to aggrieve anybody with his craft.
Raja Singh had demanded the cancellation of the comedian’s show, “If not our Karyakartas (BJP members) will throw chappals at you and you will have to think 50 times before visiting Telangana,” Singh had warned.
”I would also request the police commissioner to cancel his show. Otherwise, he will get beaten up badly by our members,” the BJP MLA added.
This is not the first time that Raja Singh has threatened comedians. A few years ago, comic Munawar Faruqui’s show was held with tight security in spite of Raja Singh’s threats to cancel it. Though the show took place, Raja Singh released a video passing derogatory comments against the Prophet Muhammad in response, almost causing a riot like situation in Hyderabad.
However eventually the BJP MLA was arrested and spent a few months in jail, and was even suspended from the BJP. However it was eventually revoked before the 2023 Telangana state polls.
