Kunal Kamra’s new salvo: Now digs at Nirmala Sitharaman

Unfazed by the raging controversy over his "traitor" jab at Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, comedian Kunal Kamra dropped a new parody song on Wednesday, taking potshots at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and accusing the BJP of "tanashahi" (dictatorship). The video was released by Kamra as Mumbai police issued him a second summons, rejecting the comedian's request for a week's time to appear for questioning.

The new song released by Kamra, who is facing defamation charges, is a parody version of the famous song 'Hawa Hawai' from the movie Mr India. Titled "Aapka tax ka paisa ho raha hai hawa hawai (your tax money is going to waste)", the parody is laden with subtle digs at the BJP-led Centre over traffic woes and bridges collapsing.

The song features altered lyrics such as, "Traffic badhane yeh hai aayi, bridges giraane yeh hai aayi, kehte hai isko tanashahi (dictatorship)." The parody further goes on to accuse the Centre of neglecting the "aspirations" of the middle class, who are made to "pay more taxes than corporates".

"Logon ki lootne kamaai, sari waali didi aayi, salary churaane yeh hai aayi, middle class dabaane yeh hai aayi, popcorn khilaane yeh hai aayi, kehte hai isko Nirmala tai," the lyrics say.

An analysis has found that in direct taxes, people mostly from the middle class are contributing more to taxes than corporates. The popcorn reference is likely to be the row over three tax slabs for different variations of the snack under GST. Sitharaman had come under opposition fire over the issue earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Kamra shared clips of the vandalism by Shiv Sena workers at Habitat Comedy Club in Khar, where he had made the 'traitor' remark during a performance. The video featured a parody song 'Hum hongey kangal' (We will be paupers). The comedian, who has had several run-ins with the BJP-led Centre, has refused to apologise for his remark against Shinde. However, he has said that he would cooperate with the police.