Gujarat-based stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui on Sunday announced his retirement on social media at the age of 29 after his Bangalore show was cancelled following complaints from two Sangh parivar outfits and police pressure on the organisers.

The blow seemingly proved the last straw for Faruqui after similar cancellations in other states and a pre-emptive stint in jail in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh over jokes that a ruling party MLA’s son claimed the comedian was “going to crack”.

“Nafrat jeet gai, Artist haar gaya (Hate has won, the artist has lost). I’m done! Goodbye,” Faruqui wrote on Instagram.

“I think this is The End. My name is Munawar Faruqui. And that’s been my time. You guys were (a) wonderful audience. Good bye! I’m done,” he added.

The development comes days after Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra said comedian Vir Das, who is facing police complaints over his monologue “I come from two Indias” in the US, would not be allowed to perform in his state.

Over 600 tickets had been sold for Faruqui’s show, “Dongri to Nowhere”, scheduled at the Good Shepherd Auditorium here on Sunday. However, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the Jai Shri Ram Sena Sanghatane complained to police that the comedian’s shows were “anti-Hindu”.

While the Samiti handed a letter to the city police commissioner, the Sangathana lodged a police complaint.

The inspector of Ashok Nagar police station, in whose area the venue falls, wrote to the Delhi-based organiser, Curtain Call Events, advising it not to go ahead with the show on the plea of possible law-and-order problems.

Sangh parivar threats had forced the cancellation of 12 of Faruqui’s shows in two months, including an entire tour of his home state Gujarat and programmes in Mumbai and Goa.

He had earlier been arrested in January in Indore after Eklavya Singh Gaur, son of BJP MLA Malini Lakshman Singh Gaur, complained that Faruqui was “going to crack offensive jokes”. A court remanded the comedian in judicial custody for 36 days before granting bail.

“Putting me in the jail for the joke I never did to cancelling my shows which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair… We do have censor certificate of the show and it’s clearly nothing problematic in the show!” Faruqui wrote on Instagram.

Fans have been begging him to stay on and fight. “Nope. You’re not quitting. We won’t let you,” wrote musician Mayur Jumani.

Faruqui said the Bangalore show was meant to help a charity run by the family of the late Kannada actor, Puneeth Rajkumar.

The police letter seeking cancellation of the show said Faruqui faced several cases in various states.

“There is credible information that several organisations (are) opposing this stand-up comedy show performed by Munawar Faruqui, this could create chaos and could disturb the peace and harmony which may further lead to law & order problems,” it said.

“Therefore it is suggested that you should cancel the Mr Munawar Faruqui stand-up comedy show.”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor deplored the show’s cancellation. “This is deplorable. Stifling freedom of expression takes many forms but threatening a stand-up comedian’s venue is petty and shameful,” he wrote on Facebook.

Stand-up comic Aditi Mittal’s asked in a tweet: “If Bangalore police really can’t ensure the safety of 610 people sitting in a room laughing, then how will they ensure the safety of the whole city?”

Bangalore-based climate activist Disha Ravi, who was arrested in February in connection with the farmer protests, tweeted: “What is happening to @munawar0018 is a targeted attack &also how those incarcerated are treated. Basic civil liberties aren’t respected & people have to go to extreme lengths before they are granted — or not at all in this case & we are expected to be grateful to be outside.

“But why should we be grateful? Why is our idea of freedom limited to not being encased within the physical walls of a prison?”

Tamil actor and social activist Sidharth slammed Bangalore police’s “unconstitutional mindset” and added: “This is fascism, BJP-style….”

Actor Swara Bhasker tweeted: “A project of hate & bigotry twill (sic) always hate an articulate, rational, educated, charming, talented & funny ‘Other’ who connects beyond identity with a heterogeneous public.. make no mistake Munawwar, Umar Khalid & other such articulate Muslims are a huge threat to Hindutva.”

In a second tweet, she wrote: “Also.. it’s heartbreaking & shameful how we as a society have allowed bullying and gaslighting to become normalised. I’m sorry Munawwar!”

Mohan Gowda of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti told The Telegraph: “We filed a complaint with the police commissioner yesterday (Saturday) while the Jai Shri Ram Sena Sanghatane lodged a police complaint.”

Asked the reason, Gowda said: “He has been insulting Hindu gods and goddesses.”

Calls to three mobile numbers associated with the organisers remained unanswered.

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra issued a statement, in which he said: “With every passing year I feel laughter is costing comedians more & more. It’s costing them their spontaneity and it’s costing them their impulse. I have even heard some comedians telling jokes to their lawyers & showing their video to a legal team before they release it online.

“The impulse of an artist to be so calculative, a move in itself is the slow death of the art form….”