Nepal prevents airing of TV show episode satirising Modi

Nepal has stopped telecast of one of the episodes of a popular satirical TV show on its national channel for reportedly caricaturing Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited the country twice within four months.

Nepal Television (NTV) prevented the telecast of one of the episodes of TV show 'Tito Satya', meaning bitter truth, yesterday.

The NTV's editorial board withdrew 576th episode of the show, citing that some part of the episode need to be edited, Prakash Jung Karki, Programme Director of the television channel, said.

"It was not a big issue, just that the editorial team wanted to edit a small segment and due to the lack of time, the episode was withdrawn from airing yesterday," he told PTI.

There is a caricature of Prime Minister Modi, but I do not think there is anything that damages the image of the Indian Prime Minister, Karki said.

The show will be telecast next Thursday after some editing in the episode, he said.

However, reports said that the episode was not aired for caricaturing Modi.

The Indian leader has become popular in Nepal after his two visits to the country within a period of just four months.

After he assumed office in May, Modi became the first Indian premier to visit Nepal in 17 years when he made his first visit to the country in August.

Nepal and India have signed a number of agreements on various projects with an investment totaling USD 3 billion during the two visits of Prime Minister Modi.

"It is against the freedom of expression and our constitutional rights," said Deepak Raj Giri, Producer and popular comedian of the show.

"In a democratic country, we have all rights to enjoy and to make satire on anyone," said Giri in a facebook post.