Stand-up comic Vir Das's Bengaluru show, set to open today, has been cancelled, the artist announced on Instagram. The show cancellation comes days after a right-wing organisation claimed that Mr Das's show "hurts Hindu sentiments and presents India in bad light".
"Due to unavoidable circumstances we are pushing the Bengaluru show. New details and dates soon," Mr Das said, apologising for the inconvenience.
The show organiser was forced to cancel the housefull event after pressure from the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. The cost of the ticket ranged between Rs 2,000-3,500 per person. The people with tickets will be reimbursed by the show organisers.
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti had filed a police complaint with the Vyalikaval police station. The comedian, who faced a huge backlash last year over his viral "Two Indias" monologue in the US, was set to hold a show today at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Malleshwaram.
"Earlier he had made derogatory statements against women, our Prime minister and India at John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC, America and denigrated the Nation. He had said that 'In India, we worship women in the day and rape them at night' during the performance," said Hindu Janajagruti Samiti state spokesperson Sri Mohan Gowda.
The right-wing organisation complained that it was not right to allow such a controversial person to hold a program in a communally sensitive area like Bengaluru.
"When Karnataka is already facing many law and order problems due to communal incidents, such events which could vitiate the law and order and should not be allowed. We demand that this program should be cancelled immediately," he said.
In the Two Indias monologue, Vir Das described two contrasting faces of the country and refers to many controversial topics - from the Delhi gang-rape to the farmer protests to pollution - in broad strokes.
Defending himself at the time, Mr Das, who has been nominated for an international Emmy for his Netflix show "Vir Das: For India", underlined that it is his job to put out satire and he will continue to write "love letters to my country" as long as he is able to do comedy.