Comedian Vir Das found himself at the centre of yet another social media debate after posting about questioning political leadership during an economic crisis. While several users agreed with his views on criticism and public discourse, one X user accused the comedian of selectively targeting certain political parties. Vir, however, did not hold back and responded sharply, defending political satire and his long history of making jokes about governments across party lines.
Vir Das hits back at troll calling him ‘one-sided hypocrite’
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the country to reduce fuel consumption, revive work-from-home practices, buy less gold and avoid unnecessary foreign travel amid the ongoing West Asia conflict. On Monday, Vir took to X and spoke about the importance of questioning leadership during difficult economic times. He wrote, “In the near future, as this economic crisis unfolds, it’s going to be important for us to ask questions of our leadership. When you do, your replies and your timeline will be flooded with hate and attacks. Don’t take it personally, it simply means the question was a really good one. The quality of the question is directly proportional to the number of anonymous replies.”
Replying to the post, an X user accused the comedian of selective criticism and targeting only the ruling party. The user wrote, “Yep. Never saw Vir asking questions to the Mamata government, or Stalin government, or Kejriwal. As if they were perfect administrators and never did no wrong. Modi supporters question him the most. It is one-sided hypocrites like Vir Das who have polluted the discourse.”
Vir responded strongly to the accusation and defended his stand on political humour. He wrote, “Ha! 🙂 Sir. I did jokes about the Congress on prime-time television every night for 7 yrs. Done jokes, songs, sketches, about every single leader in power long before this govt. Will be doing them long after for the next one. In any sensible society, with power comes parody. Accept that and move the hell on.”
The exchange quickly gained attention on social media, with many users supporting Vir and praising him for standing by political satire. Several users pointed out that comedians and artists have historically used humour to question those in power, regardless of political affiliation.
About Vir Das’ recent work
Vir was last seen in the spy-action comedy film Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos. Helmed by Vir and Kavi Shastri, the film was produced under Aamir Khan Productions. The movie also featured Mithila Palkar, Mona Singh, Sharib Hashmi and Srushti Tawade in key roles. It also marked Imran Khan’s return to the silver screen after more than a decade. However, the film failed to impress audiences and critics and reportedly collected only ₹7.36 crore worldwide at the box office.