From his bachelor pad of exile in a secluded corner of his own country, the Indian stand-up comic Kunal Kamra watched the free speech debate in the United States that followed Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension with a sense of déjà vu, alarm and lots of envy.

The decision by the broadcaster ABC to sideline its late-night host, after criticism from the Trump administration, set off a wave of protests that the country’s consequential traditions of free speech were being eroded. Within a week, Mr. Kimmel was back on air, cracking jokes about America’s president once again.

Mr. Kamra, 37, who used to spend half his time touring comedy clubs doing multiple stand-up shows a day, has been entirely off the stage for the past six months. His absence came after a mob unleashed by local leaders of the ruling coalition wrought havoc on a club in Mumbai where he had earlier cracked a joke at a politician’s expense.

While their jokes were very different, the comics both ruffled the feathers of ruling politicians. But in India, the world’s largest democracy, creeping censorship over the past decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so entrenched that the hosting of shows like Mr. Kimmel’s, or any direct mockery of governing politicians, is increasingly out of the question.

Mr. Kamra’s work since March has been reduced to hosting interviews and posting explainer videos on YouTube. His lawyers continue to fight pending criminal court cases. An armed police guard keeps watch on his house around the clock and shadows his every move when he ventures out, as he faces continuing threats.