Disney-owned streaming service Hotstar India has taken down the latest episode of John Oliver's show, Last Week Tonight , which criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and RSS.
In the Emmy-winning satire, Mr. Oliver examines PM Modi's journey from being denied an American visa after the Gujarat riots in 2002 to hosting American President Donald Trump in his home state of Gujarat. After blocking the episode, Hotstar has been unavailable for comment. The episode, however, is streaming on YouTube for free.
In the episode, Mr. Oliver highlighted the widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and criticised Mr. Trump calling Mr. Modi "the father of India", given that Mahatma Gandhi has often been referred to as that. "Calling Modi the father of India is stupid at best, and dangerous at worst," said Mr. Oliver.
The comedian also discussed demonetisation and its impact on the poor and highlighted the admiration of RSS founders towards Hitler. "They talked about the purity of the race which is just not a chill thing to admire Hitler for," said Mr. Oliver. In the episode, the comedian also showed clips from Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath's rally where he explicitly says, "If they kill one Hindu then we will also kill 100 of them."
