Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs The joke was nothing too unusual for political comedy. But in India, where there is little room anymore to make fun of politicians without drawing court cases or mob violence, all hell quickly broke loose.Just hours after video from a stand-up show in Mumbai was posted online Sunday, supporters of a state political leader barged into the popular club where it had been taped. The vigilantes intimidated the crowd, which had gathered for an unrelated event, and vandalized the place as the police watched.The state’s chief minister called for legal action against the comic who performed the show, and the police filed charges, accusing him of defamation. The local municipality then sent government employees to batter the comedy club with hammers, a lighter version of what has become known as bulldozer justice.The comic, Kunal Kamra, who is among the last comedians still taking on politicians in India, issued a statement on Monday emphasizing that he would not be intimidated.“Attacking a venue for a comedian’s words is as senseless as overturning a lorry carrying tomatoes because you didn’t like the butter chicken you were served,” he said.But the effect — the deepening chill on speech in India — was clear.On Monday, the club, Habitat, announced that it had shut down, depriving India of one of the few places still willing to host shows of an edgy political nature. The police and the vigilantes remain on the hunt for Mr. Kamra, who is believed to be in a southern state.Those vigilantes, followers of Eknath Shinde, the second-in-command in the western state of Maharashtra, were offended by one word that Mr. Kamra used in a song during his act: “gaddar,” or traitor, an apparent reference to Mr. Shinde’s defection from his party in 2022.The kerfuffle has dominated discussions in the Maharashtra state assembly as well as national news headlines. Leaders of Mr. Shinde’s party, the Shiv Sena — which, ironically, was founded by a political cartoonist — have doubled down with their threats.“Shiv Sena will give answer in Shiv Sena’s language,” the party spokesman, Raju Waghmare, told a local news outlet, referring to the party’s history of attacking those it disagrees with. He said that the emotions of party workers could not be controlled if a leader was insulted.Punit Pania, a comic who had recently performed at Habitat, said it had become an important arts hub. Its closing will reverberate.“Why would anyone take the chance if the mob can come in with the police just standing by and watching them?” Mr. Pania said.He said that many venues simply did not host comedy shows anymore, because “being offended has become like a sport” in India. The boundaries are clear: no jokes about politics, religion or sex.Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on a recent podcast, “I have a strong belief that criticism is the soul of democracy.” But as parties across the spectrum, including in opposition-run states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, have jailed people over political comments, it has become evident that speech is free only if you fall in line.Comics often turn to joking about how hard it is to joke.In announcing the house rules at a recent stand-up show, the comic Varun Grover asked the audience not to use their phones to record jokes because it would “meddle with the natural order” of how the business works these days.“We write new content for three to four months, then it becomes a show, then we go on tour,” he said. “Once the tour is almost over, we record it, tape it, put it on YouTube — and then go to jail.”Mr. Shinde provided ample comedic material when he left his party in 2022 and took dozens of lawmakers with him, locking them up in resort hotels in other states until their own government collapsed.Some of the lawmakers claimed they were kidnapped, and even drugged. When Mr. Shinde came to power in a new coalition with the help of Mr. Modi’s party, his allies danced on tables.With repeated defections and breakups of parties in Maharashtra, “gaddar” became a routine label. The state’s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, himself used the word to describe the political opposition in a statement condemning the comic’s joke.In his song, Mr. Kamra did not mention Mr. Shinde by name, though he used identifying references.The offense taken by Mr. Shinde’s followers resurfaced online in an old joke by the poet Rahat Indori.In the 1970s, when India briefly plunged into dictatorship under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mr. Indori said at a poetry event that “the government is a thief.”He was called into a police station and asked about his comment.“I said, ‘Yes, I said the government is a thief,’” Mr. Indori recalled responding to the officer. “‘But I didn’t say which government — India’s government, Pakistan’s government, the U.S. government or the British government.’”The officer smiled, Mr. Indori said, then replied: “OK, so now you think we are fools, too? That we don’t know which government is a thief?”Pragati K.B. contributed reporting.
