How Kunal Kamra was targeted should not surprise anyone, especially Uddhav Thackeray

A day after stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s act titled ‘Naya Bharat’ was released on his YouTube channel on March 23, the venue of the performance was vandalised by Shiv Sena workers. Then workers from the city’s civic body turned up to demolish what they said was an unauthorised shed at the venue, a hotel in Mumbai’s Khar.These actions were in response to Kamra’s act in which he hadn’t named Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, but sang a ditty which left little doubt that it was about the new Shiv Sena chief.The only political party that criticised the reaction to the performance was the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray). Shinde rebelled against Thackeray in 2022 and successfully laid claim to the Shiv Sena party and its symbol in 2023. “The damage caused by ransacking the studio by these cowards should be compensated by the government, just as the damages from the Nagpur violence will be recovered from the miscreants,” Uddhav Thackeray said, drawing a parallel between the attack on the hotel where Kamra recorded the video and the Hindu-Muslim clashes in Nagpur on the day of Holi. The irony of Thackeray’s statement wasn’t lost on many. The Shiv Sainiks have carried out innumerable attacks in Maharashtra against its critics since the 1970s. Editorials in Sena-controlled daily, Saamna, often referred to such attacks as ‘dandukeshahi’ and took considerable pride in Shiv Sainiks’ ability to treat law and law enforcement agencies with disdain.This culture of violence started by the Shiv Sena was later adopted by other groups, such as the Sambhaji Brigade, to both suppress opinion and curtail freedom of expression.Here is a list of such extra-legal interventions in Maharashtra: medium nocaption119910488Playwright Vijay Tendulkar's drama depicted a tale about Peshwa-era minister Nana Phadnavis and Pune’s police chief under him Ghashiram Kotwal. The play highlighted how those in power manipulate ideologies for their own gain, only to discard them when no longer useful.The Shiv Sena led protests against the play, which was alleged to have hurt the sentiments of Chitpawan Brahmins. It became difficult to stage the play with the director, writer, and actors being openly threatened. The play was briefly banned in Maharashtra.The Sena also attempted to disrupt an international tour of the play. Eventually, then Congress leader Sharad Pawar had to step in to facilitate the troupe’s departure to Germany. medium nocaption119910505In 1991, Shiv Sainiks dug up the pitch at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium to prevent a scheduled India-Pakistan match.Nikhil Wagle, the founder-editor of Mumbai-based newspaper Mahanagar, in an editorial criticised the vandalism. In this piece, he also referred to Thackeray and ‘Bal Thackeray’ and not ‘Balasaheb Thackeray.’Angered by Wagle’s ‘audacity’, Shiv Sainiks vandalised the newspaper’s office and attacked him. Even a protest march by journalists condemning the attack was attacked by Shiv Sainiks. 1991 :: Nikhil Wagle ( @waglenikhil ) On The Cover of Island Magazine

" The Editor Who Is Not Afraid of Bal Thackeray ! " pic.twitter.com/pnkD0S0WDc

— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) March 25, 2025 The party’s workers targeted the newspaper multiple times and once tried to physically assault Wagle at a public event. Newspaper vendors temporarily stopped distributing Mahanagar to avoid running afoul of the Shiv Sainiks. medium nocaption119910537A group of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers attacked the office of Zee group’s Alpha Marathi channel in Mumbai over a skit that was aired.The skit was about former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s alleged role in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. Taking responsibility for the attack, Bhujbal resigned the next day. medium nocaption119943950Over 150 activists of Sambhaji Brigade, affiliated to the Maratha Seva Sangh, ransacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Bori) in Pune. The attack was over the assistance provided by the institute to American author James Laine, who had made “objectionable” remarks about Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in his book ‘Shivaji: A Hindu king in Islamic India’. medium nocaption119910570Mahanagar editor Nikhil Wagle and his colleagues Yuvraj Mohite and Prasad Nigudkar were beaten up by a mob in Sindhudurg district.The attackers claimed it was in response to a speech by Wagle which was critical of Narayan Rane, who was then in the Shiv Sena. 119943985Shiv Sena workers vandalised the media group’s Mumbai office in response to the Zee Marathi channel airing a skit titled 'Kaka mala Vachva' (Uncle, protect me). The skit was staged during an awards function and was reportedly a comment on the power tussle within the Thackeray family between cousins Uddhav and Raj.Bal Thackeray justified the attack in an article on the front page of party-run newspaper Saamna. He congratulated the party workers for being ‘vigilant’ and said the outburst was a response to the ‘obnoxious’ skit. 119910618Editor of Marathi daily Loksatta, Kumar Ketkar, was attacked during a national convention organised by the Brahmin Sabha in Parbhani. His remarks about the Brahmin caste angered a section of the audience and some of them stormed the stage, forcing the police to intervene.Ketkar had to be escorted out of the event in a police van. Stone were pelted at the police van as Ketkar was led away. Ketkar refused to file a police complaint but maintained that he had the right to express his views. medium nocaption119910637A group of 30 men linked to the right-wing group Hindu Rashtra Sena attacked the Star News headquarters in central Mumbai over the channel’s coverage of a Hindu girl eloping with a Muslim boy. Armed with hammers and rods, the men vandalised the office and damaged parked vehicles. The attackers also targeted the newsroom and attempted to damage equipment that handled news feeds. Two people were injured in the violence. medium nocaption119910651A group of 17 Shiv Sena workers on Friday attacked journalists and damaged property at the offices of Marathi channel IBN-Lokmat in Mumbai and Pune.The attackers armed with clubs and hockey sticks claimed to be protesting the Marathi news channel's ‘anti-Balasaheb Thackeray stance’. The attackers assaulted the channel's editorial team, including its head, Nikhil Wagle. medium nocaption119910670Shaheen Dhada and her friend Rinu Srinivasan, both in their twenties, were arrested over the former’s social media post questioning a shutdown over Bal Thackeray’s demise. Srinivasan had liked and shared the message written by Dhada. 119904902The two residents of Palghar, a town near Mumbai, were attacked by unidentified women outside the police station when they went to submit an apology. A small hospital owned by Dhada’s uncle in Palghar was vandalised allegedly by Shiv Sena workers. medium nocaption119910723Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers vandalised the venue of the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer Resort finale at the heritage Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai. They said the event was an affront to Indian culture. 119910738Men linked to the Sambhaji Brigade attacked Saamna offices to protest a controversial cartoon about Maratha protests. The cartoon by Srinivas Prabhudesai was deemed offensive to the Maratha community and copies of the newspaper were burned. The cartoonist issued an unconditional apology but the Shiv Sena refused to apologise and termed it a politically-motivated attempt to create unrest. 119910766Radio jockey Malishka released a song titled “Mumbai, tula BMC var bharosa nahi ka? (Mumbai, don’t you trust the BMC?)” which quickly went viral. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5npFH8v8a4In response, officials from the city’s civic body (controlled by Shiv Sena at the time) inspected her Mumbai residence and issued a notice after allegedly finding breeding sites for dengue-spreading mosquitoes. medium nocaption119910783A group attempted to vandalise a theatre in Mira Road near Mumbai to protest against the film ‘Pathaan’ that starred Shah Rukh Khan. A group of men from the Bajrang Dal carrying saffron flags and allegedly chanted slogans outside the cinema hall and tore down promotional posters. 119910803Comedian Pranit More was attacked by a group of men in Solapur allegedly over jokes made about debutante actor Veer Pahariya. Pahariya, the grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde, distanced himself from the incident and condemned it.