Jokes about portly businessmen, jokes about men in general, and veiled jokes about the Prime Minister and a deputy chief minister.

A 45-minute video is all it has taken stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra to have Mumbai’s movers and shakers spluttering in rage, Shiv Sena cadres rampaging, and police booking a case and questioning him over the phone.

An undated video of Kamra’s stand-up comedy show, Naya Bharat, at The Habitat in Mumbai has gone viral since Sunday night.

On Monday, the Maharashtra Assembly was stalled over Kamra allegedly referring to deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde as a “traitor” for splitting the Shiv Sena.

Cadres of Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction vandalised The Habitat, a studio inside The Unicontinental hotel in Khar. A municipal demolition squad tore down a shed atthe hotel.

Shiv Sena (Shinde) workers vandalize the venue of comedian Kunal Kamra's show after his remarks on Maharashtra Dy CM Eknath Shinde, in Khar area in Mumbai, Sunday night, March 23, 2025. PTI

The police booked Kamra for public mischief and defamation, and Maharashtra minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam said: “Kamra’s location is being traced. Strict action will be taken as per the law.”

This newspaper could not reach Kamra for comment.

The Habitat apologised to those “hurt by this video” and said in a statement on Instagram: “We are shutting down till we figure out the best way to provide a platform for free expression without putting ourselves and our property in jeopardy.”

In the show at The Habitat, Kamra mocked Anant Ambani for his weight, and cracked a joke about an unnamed tea seller whose tea was so bad that his wife “might leave him”.

Along with musician Kabir Singh, he sang several Hindi songs as well, all set to Bollywood tunes. The apparent targets included the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. One of the songs was ostensibly about Shinde.

Without naming anyone, Kamra gave a physical description of his target that, to many, seemed to match Shinde’s appearance.

Shiv Sena (Shinde) worker Rahul Kanal being escorted after he was arrested for allegedly vandalising the Habitat Studio over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's alleged defamatory remarks against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in Mumbai, Monday, March 24, 2025.

The song spoke of a “gaddar” (traitor) and “party-hopper” who drills a hole in the plate that feeds him and has secured a “bow and arrow” (the Shinde faction’s election symbol).

Another of Kamra’s songs referred to a leader “whose career is built on corpses” and who is “backed by Amit Shah”.

Twelve people have been arrested for the vandalism at The Habitat, which also happens to be the venue where Ranveer Allahbadia made his controversial comments during another “comedy” show.

Kamra, a long-time thorn in the BJP’s side, is known to spare none, not even the Chief Justice of India. He faces a string of contempt and defamation charges. He had, however, taken a back seat after the pandemic and relocated from Mumbai to the outskirts of Puducherry.

Uddhav Thackeray, who leads the other faction of the Shiv Sena, jumped to Kamra’s defence.

“I don’t think Kunal Kamra said anything wrong. Calling a gaddar a ‘gaddar’ is not an attack on anyone.… Hear the full song (from Kunal Kamra’s show) and get others to hear it too,” he said.

“…(The) Shiv Sena has nothing to do with this attack, this has been done by gaddar sena.… Those who have gaddari in their blood can never be Shiv Sainiks.”

The Congress shared on X a video purportedly showing the Sena attack on the venue and footage from Modi’s recent podcast with Lex Fridman.

In it, the Prime Minister says: “Look, regarding what you said about criticism and how I deal with it…. If I had to summarise in one sentence: I welcome it. I have a strong belief that criticism is the soul of democracy.”

The Sena has a long history of vandalism. It dug up the pitch at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in 1991, and at Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla in 1999, to try and prevent cricket matches with Pakistan.

Its cadres blackened columnist and politician Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face in 2015 for participating in a book launch by a former Pakistani minister. Shiv Sainiks have been known to attack journalists and immigrants.

The Maharashtra Assembly was stalled by protests from the Treasury benches demanding Kamra’s arrest. Shinde remained silent on the subject. Fadnavis promised the “strictest action” against Kamra.

“The left liberals and urban Naxals like Kunal Kamra share the same objective of defaming respected personalities, esteemed institutions and making people lose their faith in them. I assure the state Assembly that strictest action will be taken against him,” Fadnavis told the Assembly.

Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal told reporters: “Why did they resort to this attack when Kamra did not name Shinde?… Does the ruling alliance plan to turn Maharashtra into a Taliban-like state?”

A TV channel played the audio clip of a purported threat call to Kamra by Shiv Sainiks. When the person receiving the call answers that he is in Tamil Nadu, the person making the threats says he is handing the phone over to his leader. The leader then asks: “How to reach there?”

Kamra had ended his show by holding up the same pocket version of the Constitution that leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi displays in rallies, and said: “The Constitution of India allows me to do what I do.”

Kamra also faced flak on Monday for body-shaming Ambani, who has a medical condition. Kamra’s critics said he couldn’t claim the freedom of speech as he had lauded the demolition of actress Kangana Ranaut’s office by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation — then led by the undivided Shiv Sena — in 2020 when the actress was in a verbal duel with the party.