NEW DELHI — Soon after the police cracked down on Jamia Milia Islamia students in the city, Indians from across the world had started tagging influential entertainment media personalities to speak up against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register for Citizens and police atrocities. While Bollywood started to speak up with caution, except a few, stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan kept quiet despite appeals by fans.
Indian youngsters also kept tagging comedian Hasan Minhaj to dedicate an episode to the CAA-NRC issue. Two hours back, Minhaj posted a promo of the episode of his Netflix show ‘Patriot Act’ which will be aired on Sunday — and it is on the CAA and NRC.
Minhaj’s announcement came hours after police lathicharged protesters at Delhi’s Daryaganj and detained several people including minors. Some sustained grave injuries.
He begins his show saying, “Since our last update Prime Minister Modi has gone mask off on Muslims.” He refers to the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, the continued internet shutdown, and the NRC which has left out 19 lakh people.
Predictably, Minhaj’s comments section was swelling with praises and warnings, the latter telling to make sure to get his ‘facts’ right.
Some people wondered if Netflix will end up banning the episode in India.
It must be pointed out that Netflix’s track record is not the most impeccable when it comes to controversial political issues. The streaming platform pulled down a scathing episode Minhaj did on Saudi Arabia’s politics and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reportedly under pressure.
Minhaj reacted to the controversy saying, ”“Clearly, the best way to stop people from watching something is to ban it, make it trend online, and then leave it up on YouTube.”
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings defended the portal’s decision saying, “We’re not in the news business. We’re not trying to do ‘truth to power.’ We’re trying to entertain.”
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