Row over Kunal Kamra jibe: Maharashtra minister does not support vandalism incident, but "won't tolerate insult to Shinde"
Mar 24, 2025

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 24 : Maharashtra Minister Pratap Baburao Sarnaik reached the Khar Police station in Mumbai on Monday after an FIR was registered against Shinde Sena's youth group for vandalising the city's Habitat comedy club, which hosted standup comedian Kunal Kamra's show last night.
The minister alleged that the Habitat comedy venue is "illegal" as earlier there have been incidents of false remarks being made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders there.
"I came to the police station as an FIR was registered against our Shiv Sainiks... The said studio is illegal... False remarks are made against PM Modi and several others over there. It should be investigated why someone would support an illegal studio like that," Sarnaik said.
"Such illegal studios that support the party (UBT) should also be looked into and investigated, I told BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani that if it is an illegal studio, then immediate action should be taken," he added.
He added that while he does not support vandalism and that that the party would not tolerate any insult to the party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
"As a minister, I don't support the incident that took place yesterday. But I am a Shiv Sainik before I am a minister. Our Shiv Sainiks took that action because if anyone speaks anything against our party chief and Dy CM Eknath Shinde, we will not tolerate it," the state's minister told reporters outside the police station.
Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) has vehemently objected to the alleged derogatory remarks made by standup comedian Kunal Kamra on his recent comedy special, 'Naya Bharat.' Following the release of the video, Shiv Sena youth group vandalised the venue of the show in Mumbai.
According to Sub Inspector Vijay of Khar police station, the Shinde Sena's youth faction entered the venue while a live show of standup comedian Rajat Sood was going on, forced the show to be closed down and vandalised the set.
Meanwhile, An FIR has been registered against both Kunal Kamra and the Shiv Sena's youth wing, as the group had vandalised the club where the sketch stand-up was performed by Kamra.