Over the last few days riots have raged on in the national capital, Delhi, even as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump met. Despite a high profile visit, when security is expected to be at its highest, Delhi saw large scale anti-Muslim violence, the kind it hasn’t seen since the anti-Sikh riots of 1986. Modi and Trump though have carried on with business as usual. While Prime Minister Modi hasn’t even acknowledged the violence, Trump said in his presser that he’d spoken to Modi about religious freedoms in India.
Several late night shows that air in the US, have spoken about Trump’s India visit. Trevor Noah for instance spoke about how Trump could not pronounce any of the Indian names and words in his speech (like Vivekamanunund instead of Vivekananda).
The most critical video from a late night host though came from John Oliver. A searing commentary on the anti minority hatred that is raging across India with the blessings of those in power. After 19-minutes on demonetisation, lynchings, CAA, NRC and pogroms, Oliver ends his piece with this, ‘India, home to this enduring symbol of love (Taj Mahal) frankly deserves more than this temporary symbol of hate (Modi).’
Here’s our piece from last night on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi…https://t.co/uEfwMDdB6g
— John Oliver (@iamjohnoliver) February 24, 2020
Hotstar which broadcasts Last Week Tonight every Tuesday in India has not yet posted the video.
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There have been talks of Indian streaming services self-censoring earlier as well.
Read, Will The Bold Run Of Indian OTT Platforms Come To An End Soon?
Hotstar has not issued any clarification on why it has not aired this episode yet. According to a Bloomberg report the I&B Ministry has issued a clarification that it has nothing to do with this.
The video, in full, however, is on YouTube and has been trending since the day it was released.
