'If George Orwell was in Assam...': Samay Raina recounts brush with cops, breaks silence on India's Got Latent row

After a sabbatical of one year, comedian Samay Raina not only returned with a new comedy special but he also came armed with political jokes, new philosophies and concepts of "revolution".

In his new special titled, 'Still Alive', Raina addressed the elephant in the room: the India's Got Latent controversy.

Featuring the renowned podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia aka BeerBiceps , one segment of India's Got Latent turned controversial when Allahbadia commented on sexual relations between parents.

It soon snowballed into a full-fledged controversy with many of the comedians—who were present at the show—facing police complaints across the country.

Cut to 2026, Raina posted his special on his social media accounts where he talked about the very same controversy. Invoking the presence of renowned author George Orwell, Raina started the topic by asking his audience a question, "As a comedian do I apologise or not?"

Raina claimed he was asked this very question by the authorities regarding the incident. He said he pondered a lot over it and finally settled on a quote by George Orwell, "Every joke is a tiny revolution and the revolutions must never stop."

However, he also quipped that the Assam police also told him sternly using cuss words to emphasise that they will, "put you (Raina) in jail."

Raina further said that after pondering a lot over these two lines, he thought it is better to apologise. "You can't use a joke to bring revolution in this society," he said.

"Had George Orwell been in Assam, he would have said, "Every revolution is a tiny joke," Raina declared.

Bringing in his Kashmiri Pandit heritage, Raina said, "You only fight when the fight is fair, other wise you f*** off from there. Kashmiri Pandit wisdom.

"We are five per cent in Kashmir. If my parents would have taken up arms, saying 'We'll fight for our motherland, they all would have died. I'm so glad all the Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley overnight."

"It is all about survival. When I said sorry, the police themselves cooperated with me," he added.