Singer Kailash Kher has called for greater awareness and civility in public discourse, urging people to remain “chaitanye” (alert) and “tameez” (polite) amid criticism surrounding jokes involving Bihar and Kashmir on the stand-up comedy show India’s Got Latent .
Enacting a strict law is the need of the hour, but until such a law is made, the public should ban such people on social media so that their minds come to their senses… “Look, if I’ll tell you in terms of music, then music is not just a tune its something that can also make you laugh, its also a form of discipline. So, you should stay in music. Kher then stressed the importance of conduct and politeness. Everyone knows how to live, how to laugh, how to win the hearts of people). He also reflected on his own journey to fame, saying he had always tried to conduct himself politely. “There will be critics, there will be haters, there will be jealous people. During the episode, Raina made a joke about Verma’s Bihari roots and stereotypes surrounding migration for work. However, clips from the episode have since drawn strong reactions online, and the comments have also attracted political attention. “We all respect any artist’s talent, his art, but if under the guise of art, someone’s faith, belief, or sentiments are hurt, it simply means that the artist is crossing certain boundaries to cause pain to people. Now this has become a trend. For publicity stunts, people start dragging in gods and goddesses or sentiments… It all ends with an apology… Now the time has come to enact a strict law against this… Then no one will have the courage to do such things.
If your music tune is not correct, then you may end in making fun of someone,” he said. He said, “To islie manushye ko chaitanye mein rehna chahiye, tameez mein rehna chahiye… or apni apni tameez se sb baat krein, to sbko itna to pta hi hai kaise jeena hai, kese hasna hai or kese hsaana hai, kese kisi ka dil jeetna hai…(So, a person should be alert, should be polite, and should talk to everyone politely. “I have always been polite,” he said, while acknowledging that popularity can bring criticism, envy and hostility. Then you will realise that you have come so far,” Kher said. Verma responded with a joke about Raina’s Kashmiri identity and “getting stoned”, and also said she had “atleast left her state by choice. Whether it’s Samay Raina or anyone else under the guise of art, no one’s sentiments can be hurt, and if someone is doing that, they cannot be forgiven,” he said.
