Vir Das: Indian comedian polarizes country with story of ‘two Indians’
“I come from India, where we worship women by day, but gang rape them at night,” Das says in the monologue.
The hashtag #VirDas is trending in India, with more than 60,000 tweets as of Wednesday afternoon.
Ashutosh Dubey, legal counsel for the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said he filed a complaint with Mumbai police on Tuesday against Das’ “inciting” comments.
Indian filmmaker Ashoke Pandit said that Das “should be arrested immediately” for his comments.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday, Das defended his monologue, adding that he was “proud” of India.
“The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate Indias, doing different things,” he said. “Like any nation there is light and darkness, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret.”
Meanwhile, Das has gained support from a number of politicians, journalists and opposition activists.
“A stand-up comedian knows the true meaning of the term ‘stand up’ is not physical but moral,” he said.
Another Congressman, Kapil Sibal, also supported Das. “No one can doubt that there are two [sic]. It’s just that we don’t want an Indian telling the world about it,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. We are intolerant and hypocritical. “
In recent months, several Indian comedians have raised concerns about what they say is an escalating crackdown on free speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
CNN’s Vedika Sud and Manveena Suri contributed reporting.
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