Comedian Pulkit Mani Cancels UP Shows After Modi Mimicry Row

Pulkit Mani scrapped Noida, Lucknow and Kanpur shows, citing threats, after his Modi mimicry at Rahul Gandhi's Indore event went viral.

In a first story he said the Noida date was cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances" and apologised to ticket-holders; in a follow-up he was blunter, writing, "Due to repeated threats from goon activists, my Lucknow and Kanpur shows are cancelled." Multiple outlets — Bhaskar English, ThePrint and Mathrubhumi English among them — report the cancellations follow the storm over his Modi impersonation. Mani gave no further details about who made the threats, and as Bhaskar English notes, there has been no independent confirmation of the alleged threats in available reports.

The trouble traces to 19 September, when Mani performed at Rahul Gandhi's 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' event in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. A clip shared by the Congress party on X shows Mani, in Modi mannerisms, embracing Gandhi and asking, "My friend, how are you?" — with Gandhi replying, "I'm fine, how are you, Modi ji?" Per ThePrint and OpIndia via Dailyhunt, the skit also included the line "Maa ko kursi do, maa" while pointing at the audience, a reference to Modi helping an elderly woman, plus riffs on "my friend," diplomatic hugs, the Galgotias University robot controversy, and a coin placed on his forehead. Bhaskar English reports BJP leaders accused Congress of disrespecting Modi, while Congress supporters called it political satire.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal attacked the performance on X, calling Rahul Gandhi an "Asanskari naraz fufa" and writing, per OpIndia via Dailyhunt, that "the need to come on stage every now and then just to drag Prime Minister Modi ji's name into cheap political theatre never fails to amaze me." Union Minister Kiren Rijiju added that he "hadn't imagined that a party which was in power for nearly six decades would turn into such a circus," and declared, "Congress party has become a party of comedians and Jokers!" ThePrint reports some BJP members demanded a formal apology from Gandhi, while Congress leaders defended the act as satire.

For comedy fans, the striking part is the fallout landing on the performer rather than only the politicians. ThePrint notes Mani, a mid-tier digital comic performing since 2021, has been turned "into the centre of national politics" — and that this is not his first backlash: according to ThePrint, he previously drew criticism for videos mocking religious figures, made jokes about Modi and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, and collaborated with Kunal Kamra on "Modiverse," which targeted Modi and Amit Shah. His first half-hour special, "Raw Hunny," hit YouTube in February 2026. The pattern suggests political-impersonation material in India now carries venue-level risk, not just online noise.

The two sides of the story cannot be reconciled from the available reporting. Mani frames the cancellations as a safety issue driven by "repeated threats from goon activists," a claim Bhaskar English explicitly says lacks independent confirmation and any identified perpetrators. OpIndia, via Dailyhunt, instead frames Mani as having "peddled the victim card" after "mocking" the Prime Minister. Readers should hold both framings loosely: what is corroborated across outlets is that the shows were cancelled and the cancellations followed the Indore clip; the threat claims rest on Mani's own Instagram statements.

Mani's own sign-off may be the most telling detail: ThePrint reports he posted a cryptic meme on Instagram reading, "Ab underground hone ka samay aa gaya hai" — "It's now time to go underground." With Noida, Lucknow and Kanpur all off the calendar and the Indore clip still circulating, the controversy shows no sign of cooling; Bhaskar English notes it has continued on social media with BJP leaders criticising and Congress defending the programme. For fans of political stand-up, the question is whether India's venue circuit absorbs this as a one-off or a template for how parties respond when satire shows up at rival rallies.