Raut backs Kamra, says stand-up comedian performed parody and not sacrilege

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday defended stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, who has been served with a breach of privilege notice over his satirical song on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, saying it was parody and not sacrilege.Raut was replying to a question on Kamra appearing before the privilege committee of the Maharashtra legislature."Kunal Kamra is a stand-up comedian who writes good scripts, songs and satires. He performed parody ('vidambana'), not sacrilege ('vitambana')," Raut said.Kamra on Thursday appeared before the panel and stated that he did not feel any remorse over his remarks targeting Shinde, nor would he tender an apology.Raut said it is not right to create tension over such an issue and waste resources of the privilege committee.He further said Kamra composed a parody song similar to those by the prominent poet, writer, and journalist Pralhad Keshav Atre, fondly known as Acharya Atre.During a performance in Mumbai last year, Kamra had used a modified version of a Hindi song from the movie ‘Dil To Pagal Hai' to describe the upheaval in the Shiv Sena, then headed by Uddhav Thackeray.Shinde rebelled against the leadership of Thackeray in June 2022, leading to a split in the Shiv Sena and the collapse of the then Maha Vikas Aghadi government.Earlier, chairman of the privileges committee Prasad Lad said that a complaint had been filed by Pravin Darekar, a BJP member of the legislative council, against Kamra.