Comedian’s segment on Indian politics takes social media by storm

New Delhi: British-American comedian John Oliver’s scathing segment on India in light of the controversy over the divisive citizenship bill has garnered almost 4 million views in a day, and is trending on Twitter in India. In the latest segment of in his widely watched show ‘Last Week Tonight’, Oliver launched a full-blown attack on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which he slammed as discriminatory towards Muslims in the country. Primarily, he targeted the policies of the Narendra Modi government towards minorities in general, and Muslims in particular.

“Modi and his party may be about to strip millions of Muslims of citizenship. And they did it in a diabolically clever two step way,” he said, going on to explain the exact link between the CAA, and the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC).

All Indians could end up having to produce documents proving their citizenship as part of the NRC. Those who do no, may be granted citizenship through the CAA route - which is open to people of all religions except Islam.

Speaking ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Taj Mahal on Monday, Oliver said; “The home of this enduring symbol of love frankly deserves a lot more than this temporary symbol of hate,” alluding to a picture of Modi.

Oliver’s hilarious yet incisive and informative segments on key socio-political issues are a huge hit in the US through the HBO network and worldwide through YouTube.