Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra receives death threats for his sketch on patriotism

Stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, who uploaded performed a set titled 'Patriotism and the Government' and posted a video of it on Youtube, received death threats on 15 March, 2017.[caption id="attachment_3338080" align="alignnone" width="825"] Kunal Kamra. Image from Facebook[/caption]The video, which was uploaded on 1 March, 2017 begins with the azaadi slogans used during the JNU protests of 2016. "India is a democracy, until you criticise it," are the words that first appear on the screen. In it, Kamra mocks demonetisation, the attitude of Indians towards the army, "anti-nationals" and the government, among other subjects.The description of the video says, "Loving your country means asking a lot of questions. Asking for peace, asking for better living conditions, asking for your right to voice your opinion if the taxes you're paying are not leading to the life you ideally want to live." This video has 351,343 views on Youtube, and was even shared by New Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.On March 15, Kamra took to Twitter to talk about the death threats he had received because of this video. He mentioned that he was added to Whatsapp groups, where he was the victim of verbal abuse. He said that he did not feel threatened.He also said that this would not be the last time he speaks about politics. Kamra tweeted out a picture thanking people for their support.In an interview to Mid-Day, he spoke about about how in the past, he has received expletives in response to his comedy. He mentioned that everyone is entitled to their opinions, and they can chose however they want to express it. But he saw these death threats as an issue because they mentioned where he lived and where he performed, implying that these people had been tracking his whereabouts. He is yet to file a formal complaint with the police. Kamra now fears that other comedians, especially female comedians like Aditi Mittal may face twice the amount of backlash, simply because they are women. He said that he feels obligated to speak up about this issue, else others in the fraternity will not be able to exercise the freedom to express themselves.