JioCinema, an Indian over-the-top media streaming service, recently took down a 2020 episode of John Oliver’s show ‘Last Week Tonight’. Now after a month, the show’s fresh episode has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and highlighted the impact his tenure has had on democratic freedoms in India.
According to the reports, the 2020 episode, which was critical of PM Modi, was taken down by JioCinema, owned by Viacom18, a joint venture of Reliance Industries and Paramount Global in an attempt to prevent Indian audiences from watching those episodes.
The episode covered the 2019 general elections, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Moreover, it also featured allegations against Modi around the Gujarat riots, a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 and purported anti-Muslim and Islamophobic remarks by other top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
Fresh episode criticises Modi
The latest episode titled ‘Indian Elections, Trump & Red Lobster’ is yet to be aired by HBO’s official streaming partner JioCinema in India. It is expected to be available on YouTube on upcoming Thursday.
The episode discusses Modi’s tenure and its impact on democratic freedoms in India. The critical episode also highlights the central agencies’ action against NDTV and the temporary ban on MediaOne after the Delhi riots, communal violence that struck the northeast part of Delhi in February 2020 during an anti-CAA protest. It also mentions the new citizenship amendment law and the “diabolically clever” move to “strip millions of Muslims of citizenship”.
John Oliver’s criticism
John Oliver, a British comedian and host of the show, has been vocal in his criticism of PM Modi-led government. In the episode, he described PM Modi as divisive and said that he is “actively trying to erase whole sections of Indian history.” He also mentioned that Modi offered only “tepid apologies” after being at the centre of the Gujarat riots in which numbers of Muslims were brutally killed and raped.
International reaction
The episode has garnered significant attention globally, with many international media outlets covering the controversy. John Oliver has also trolled PM and his party for a recent viral advertisement “War Rukwa di Papa” that was meant to portray Modi as an international peacemaker who stopped the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and brought Indian students back home. The anchor mocked the ad and called it a “laughable” and “ridiculous” attempt by the BJP to showcase Modi’s diplomatic skills.
Oliver’s episode sparked a global troll, with many users on social media platforms sharing short clips of the show and questioning the “Central government’s control on media outlets”.
As the controversy continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether JioCinema will air the episode and whether Modi’s government will face further criticism for its handling of democratic freedoms in India.
In a viral clip of the show Oliver is heard saying. “I don’t know if this episode is not going to end up airing in India, depending on what they do with the laws around YouTube. If you have friends and family living in India who would like to see it, just encourage them to visit these sites.”
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