Caught in the Eknath Shinde 'defamatory' remarks row, Kunal Kamra is not new to controversies

Mumbai: Controversy, thy name is Kunal Kamra.

When supporters of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena vandalised The Habitat, a set up for music, standup comedy, poetry and other events at The UniContinental hotel in Khar, the 36-year-old Kamra was back in the news.

Kamra, during his show Naya Bharat, made certain comments against the Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief leader Eknath Shinde, that snowballed into a major political issue in Maharashtra.

Kamra, a stand-up comedian, known for observational comedies, was also host of the popular political-comedy podcast Shut Up Ya Kunal.

After Kamra's gaddar jibe at Shinde using the parody of Dil To Pagal Hai, the Shiv Sainiks vandalised the studio following which The Habitat decided to shut down. The jibe - “…meri nazar se tum dekho to gaddar nazar wo aaye…haaye...” - has not gone down well and he faces an FIR now.

The first big controversy involving Kamra was in January 2020 when he accosted Republic TV founder and veteran journalist Arnab Goswami on board a Mumbai-Lucknow IndiGo flight. “I am asking coward Arnab about his journalism and he is doing exactly what I expected him to do,” Kamra was heard saying, however, the TV journalist and editor maintained cool. IndiGo and other airliners like Air India, SpiceJet, and GoAir imposed bans on him for brief periods.

Kunal Kamra, in 2020, also mocked Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, the then Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

Kunal Kamra and Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had a clash on X platform during which the comedian highlighted unresolved customer grievances and refund issues.

Kunal Kamra was also in news for targeting Bollywood star Salman Khan by way of jokes on Bigg Boss and Bigg Boss OTT, which the actor hosts. After Kunal Kamra’s comments at Salman and news that he may file defamation suit, Kunal Kamra posted on X, said: “I am not a flying bird or a stationary footpath and I don’t apologies for jokes anymore” - which seemed to be a reference to the blackbuck poaching case of 1998 and the hit-and-run case of 2002.

Once Kunal Kamra posted an edited video of a seven-year-old boy singing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his May 2020 visit to Germany. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took cognisance of the incident and asked Twitter (Now X) and the Delhi Police to take down the tweet.