NEW DELHI: The massive uproar over content creator Ranveer Allahbadia‘s “sex and parents” remark at comedian Samay Raina‘s “India’s Got Latent” show only intensified on Tuesday, with people across the spectrum stepping in to condemn Allahbadia’s crass comment.
Allahbadia, widely popular for his YouTube channel “BeerBiceps,” landed trouble after a clip of him from Samay Raina’s show went viral. What began as backlash from netizens quickly escalated into a national debate, drawing criticism from political leaders, a body for women’s rights and other public figures.
Hours after facing criticism on social media on Monday, Allahbadia issued an apology but the matter did not subside.
Matter reaches Parliament
Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske on Tuesday raised the matter in Parliament during Zero Hour, calling for a law to regulate social media. He said there was a need to enact a law to regulate social media platforms where influencers are posting “all kinds of nonsense” in the name of freedom of speech.
“The inappropriate things they said yesterday should be censored. There should be censorship on influencers’ content, and today I also raised this issue in Parliament, suggesting that action should be taken against them. If such individuals continue to spread negativity, action should be taken against them,” Mhaske told news agency PTI.
The NCW also urged information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to take immediate regulatory measures to address the prevalence of obscene content on various over-the-top (OTT) platforms and social media streaming sites.
Police at Allahbadia’s doorstep
The Maharashtra Cyber Department registered the case under relevant sections of the IT Act, BNS and sought the removal of all 18 episodes of Raina’s comedy show. A team of Mumbai Police was also spotted outside Allahbadia’s residence on Tuesday.
The Assam Police also registered an FIR against five people, including podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia and comedian Samay Raina.
Allahbadia is already facing police complaints in Guwahati and Indore. Summonses are being sent to about 30 guests who have participated in the show from the first episode till now, a police official said.
NCW summons
The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday expressed strong concern and asked Allahbadia, Samay Raina, Apoorva Makhija, Jaspreet Singh, and Ashish Chanchlani, as well as the show’s producers Tushar Poojari and Saurabh Bothra to appear before it on February 17 in New Delhi.
The summons came after women and child development minister Annapurna Devi said her ministry will seek a report from the NCW in this regard.
Politicians pull up creators
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, a member of the parliamentary committee on Communications and Information Technology, said she will raise the issue for the kind of “vulgar, blasphemous content that is passed off as comedy”.
“We need to set boundaries since these platforms influence young minds and they are passing off absolute rubbish as content. The language used by Ranveer Allahbadia, which was also actively encouraged by others on that ‘comedy panel’, is unacceptable,” she told news agency PTI.
Calling the whole episode sad, BJP leader Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan said: “The experiment that they have done, they have broken the law. I don’t know but if the parliamentary committee has taken a decision, then they will be called”.
Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi said her ministry will seek a report from the NCW in this regard.
Bollywood weighs in
Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali said mistakes by immature should not be taken seriously.
“I feel people should do what they enjoy doing. Obscenity is a subject that looks bad and anybody would agree. But people are immature so their mistakes should also not be taken seriously,” Ali said in an interview.
Actor Manoj Bajpayee suggested that one achieving success at a young age should understand the environment.
“This is why I say, please read the newspaper,” Bajpayee added.
Veteran actor Raza Murad told PTI: “Some people say such vulgar things, some people abuse and there is no restriction on them yet. But anyway, better late than never. I would like to say that democracy does not mean spreading vulgarity, our constitution does not allow this.”
Mukesh Khanna, who played the popular roles of Bheeshma in Mahabharata and Shaktiman, said Allahbadia’s remark was “vulgar and irresponsible”.
“The problem is the youth of today has been given too much liberty in the name of ‘freedom of expression’. There needs to be a limit to everything, even freedom of expression… I saw the video. He made a shameful statement, and all of them present around him, they all laughed. Nobody cared to object him,” Khanna.
Professional setback
Allahbadia suffered a setback for his show as singer B Praak called off an appearance on the influencer’s podcast.
“I was supposed to appear on a podcast, on Beer Biceps, and we cancelled that. Why? Since we are all seeing how pathetic his thinking is… The choice of words that he has used on Samay Raina’s show,” Praak said in an Instagram video.