The Habitat, a performing arts facility in Mumbai’s Khar that houses comedians, poets, and musicians, announced at the beginning of this week that it would be temporarily closing. Recently, employees of the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, allegedly trashed The Habitat and the Hotel Unicontinental, where it is located, after taking offense to the lyrics of a parody song by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. There was a political slugfest that ensued. A first information report was filed against Kamra, who was also granted interim bail by the Madras High Court after at least 12 members of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena were arrested and then released on bail.
However, The Habitat has been in difficulty before, and this is not even the first time that someone has vandalized a venue because they were offended by an artist’s work. Only a few weeks prior, when comedian Samay Raina and podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia (also known as Beer Biceps) were involved in a dispute over “obscene content,” the Mumbai Police had apparently contacted The Habitat to ask about the matter because the video for Raina’s online show “India’s Got Latent” was filmed there.
Supporters of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena allegedly vandalized the studio in July 2020, when the nation was under lockdown, in response to a video that stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua had posted that they said was “insulting to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.” The vandals did not leave the venue until Joshua wrote a public apology and put it online.
