India cracks down on satirists for turning its prime minister into a punch line

MUMBAI, India — For years, supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi carefully cultivated his public image as a strongman and hard taskmaster — a leader who puts in 18‑hour days to propel India toward superpower status.

To illustrate India's rise, they tout Modi's rapport with other world leaders — like when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late February. Modi was generous with his signature hugs and laughs, and Netanyahu effusive with praise for his "great friend."

Yet three days after their meeting, Israel and the U.S. launched their war on Iran, sending India's currency and stock market tumbling. Iran also restricted the movement of fuel ships in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Indians to scramble for cooking gas and shuttering many restaurants and factories.

The Indian government, led by Modi, appeared to be caught off guard by the conflict.

And then, the memes began.

Indian satirists, cartoonists and comedians flocked to X, Instagram and Facebook to mock Modi.

Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool / AFP via Getty Images

/

AFP via Getty Images

Cartoonist Satish Acharya drew Modi wearing a gag and shutting his eyes to news about the war. Instagram user Namaskaar reworked a popular hymn to appeal to Modi to use his friendship with Netanyahu to resolve India's fuel crunch. Comedian Pulkit Mani performed a sharp mimicry of Modi's exuberance and awkward hugs while meeting world leaders.

Indian censors are also watching.

Several accounts and posts, including those of Acharya and Mani, were withheld in India. In emails shared by dozens of users, host platforms X and Meta claimed they were doing this as per legal requests by Indian authorities.

The blocked accounts include those belonging to popular independent journalists and satirists with hundreds of thousands of followers, and even one legislator from the opposition Trinamool Congress party.

"It's really stuff that's critical of the government," says Prateek Waghre, an internet policy researcher with Tech Global Institute. He says the orders often come from both the police and the federal ministry, and in most cases, users aren't told why their content is being blocked.

A three-hour takedown deadline

Policy experts say such rapid takedown orders are possible because India last year tightened an existing law requiring social media companies to remove posts flagged as illegal by authorities, and shortened the compliance window from 36 hours to just three. A new set of rules proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology now goes even further, seeking to restrict creators themselves while making platforms directly accountable for the content they host.

The ministry, X and Meta did not respond to NPR's request for comment or agree to an interview.

India's content takedown regime is "the most aggressive timeline for any jurisdiction in the world," says Akash Karmakar, a New Delhi-based lawyer who specializes in technology law. A three-hour takedown deadline leaves it open to misuse, he says. And while users can challenge the orders in Indian high courts, "the chances of you being able to get a court reprieve to even the most perverse order in a matter of three hours is 0.00%," he adds.

That's what happened to Prateek Sharma, who runs the satirical account Dr Nimo Yadav on X.

In March, X emailed him in the middle of the night, saying the Indian authorities had asked the platform to block his account. When the high court heard his challenge days later, a government counsel defended the government's request, saying the posts portrayed Modi in "bad taste."

Like when Sharma wrote, "Elect a clown, expect a circus."

On Monday, the Delhi High Court directed X to reinstate his account, while keeping the specific posts cited in the initial order blocked.

The mirage of Modi

Analysts say this burst of irreverence toward Modi is, in part, a reaction to the relentless mythmaking by his supporters over the 12 years since he first came to power.

"I feel that the current generation of 22-to-25-year-olds don't relate to him," says Sunil Sharma, a popular satirist known by his pseudonym, Rofl Gandhi, who has also had more than a dozen of his posts withheld in India. "People are now realizing that this myth of having a big aura in foreign lands was just largely media creation."

Modi's ubiquity in India, analysts say, has also become his Achilles' heel. For years, his team has frequently placed him at the center of India's success stories in sports, science and beyond.

"People feel they can direct their frustration at the man who claims credit for everything that has gone right in their lives," says Kapil Komireddi, author of the book Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India.

In recent years, "Godi media" — a popular shorthand for outlets seen as uncritically aligned with the government — has become a defining feature of India's media landscape. This includes major television networks, some owned by powerful billionaires and others influenced by state pressure.

Some satirists have begun targeting these pliant broadcasters as well. YouTuber Purav Jha, for instance, transformed the Bollywood hit All Is Well into a parody titled "All Izz Hell." Set to an upbeat tune, it features lines such as "Corruption is out of control, literacy is in shambles, news channels are a farce, influencers are, instead, doing real journalism."

Over the years, many critics and satirists have been arrested, dragged into lengthy court cases or doxxed online. Some have even received death threats. But despite the risks, many remain undeterred.

Prateek Sharma, the satirist whose account was briefly blocked, says: "I will continue to do everything I can within my rights." Be it words, memes or songs — the jokes, he says, must continue.

Copyright 2026 NPR