NEW DELHI: What will happen to the national media if there are restrictions on freedom of expression, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan asked on Monday, reacting to the ongoing row over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s “joke” on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.
The media is already in a “bad situation,” Bachchan remarked.
“If there is a restriction on speaking, what will become of you? Aise hi aap logon ki halat kharab hai (you are anyway in a bad situation). There are restrictions on you. You would be told to speak just on this and nothing else, that do not interview Jaya Bachchan,” the parliamentarian-actor told media persons at the Parliament premises.
She added, “Where is freedom of speech? There is freedom of action only when there is a ruckus – beat up the opposition, rape women, murder them. What else?”
Bachchan also defended Kamra’s “gaddar” (traitor) jibe on Shinde.
“You (Eknath Shinde) left your real party and formed another party for power. Isn’t that an insult of Balasaheb?” she asked, referring to Shinde’s June 2022 rebellion, which caused a vertical split in the Shiv Sena. His actions also led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
The Shiv Sena, a member of the three-party MVA alliance, was split into factions headed by Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray, the son of party founder Balasaheb Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray was Maharashtra’s chief minister during the rebellion.
The Election Commission recognises Shinde’s faction as the “real” Shiv Sena, while Uddhav’s side is called Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
Sena (UBT) leaders have repeatedly called Shinde a “gaddar.”
