Samay Raina's Bihari-Kashmiri banter with Sharon Verma on Latent show sparks row: ‘Publicity for free’

In India's got Latent's new episode, Sharon Verma, who is from Bihar, and Samay Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, roasted each other over their places of origin.

Comedian Samay Raina seems to be embroiled in another row following a Bihari-Kashmiri remark on the latest episode of his show ‘India’s Got Latent' where he had a banter with stand-up comedian Sharon Verma who was a participant in the first season of the controversial show.

In the latest episode, Verma, who is from Bihar, and Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, were seen roasting each other over their places of origin. The banter has irked many, with some BJP leaders calling out Raina for his remarks.

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It started when Raina started praising Verma, saying he was proud of her. Raina then went on to poke fun at her Bihari roots.

He said, "She is so Bihari that she thinks Ebola means someone said something." Sharon hit back with a joke about Raina's Kashmiri roots, saying, "Samay is so Kashmiri, he loves getting stoned."

Raina continued, “You know, Sharon Verma is a Bihari who came to Mumbai in search of a job. Just Bihari things.” To this, Verma replied, “At least I left my state by my choice.”

The episode also featured Archana Puran Singh and Orhan Awatramani, aka Orry on the panel.

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BJP MLA from Maharashtra Ram Kadam made sharp attack on Raina over the remarks, saying Kashmiri Pandits cannot be treated as subjects of ridicule.

“There are certain forces in society that deliberately make controversial statements simply to gain publicity. Their sole objective is to become famous. We need to understand that the deities of Sanatan Hinduism and Kashmiri Pandits cannot be treated as subjects of ridicule. Someone cannot deliberately do something offensive and then simply apologize afterwards. In the meantime, they get the publicity they wanted across the country for free,” Kadam was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Many controversies of Samay Raina

Raina ran into controversy in February 2025 over his YouTube show India’s Got Latent and faced legal action over allegations of promoting obscenity and sexually explicit content. The row erupted after guest Ranveer Allahbadia's remarks on an episode, which resulted in widespread backlash, resulting in multiple FIRs and legal challenges to the show. However, Raina announced a comeback of India's Got Latent a couple of months ago, and five episodes from the show's second season have already been released on YouTube.

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The Supreme Court last week quashed all FIRs against comedian Raina and four others over alleged insensitive jokes about persons with disabilities during his 'India's Got Latent' show.

"Once there are genuine efforts, positive results are bound to be there. They are very bright youngsters. If they have started working in a positive direction, there will be positive output," the court noted.

Sana started her career in 2018 with News18 and later moved to BoomLive. In the meantime, she thought it was a good idea to share what she learnt, hence took up part-time teaching of journalism course at Jamia Millia Islamia, which she says, she thoroughly enjoyed-not sure if the feeling was mutual. For a year, she also tried her hands at communication roles, only to realise she was more comfortable with news. So, joined HT in September 2025. Not much of a talker, always up for chai and sarcasm. And pun always intended. Her tag line is 'I will figure out, but I need to panic first'Read More