Mamta and Raj joint winners of Indian Idle 2008

The race that began in Sept 2008 to identify the most-hated Indian on the planet has now ended. MNS chief Raj Thackery and TMC leader Mamta Banherjee were declared as the joint winners of Indian Idle 2008 in a glittering ceremony organized in Mumbai on Saturday.

The contest that started with 14 contestants had just 5 contestants in the final round including Deve Gowda family, Rajat Sharma and the fashion conscious former home minister Shivaraj Patil. Each contestant was grilled extensively by a jury comprising Shotgun Sinha, Javed Akhtar, Mahesh Rut and the jumping jack anchor Arnab Goatsawme.

In the Irritation round, each contender was asked to something irritating. Raj Thackerey immediately gave a ring to his supporters who barged into the sets of the show and thrashed Javed Akhtar to a pulp alleging he was a North Indian. Mamta Banherjee went on a hunger strike, while Shivaj Patil exploded a cracker outside the building and changed his dress three times before issuing a template statement condemning the blast. Not to be outdone, Rajat Sharma aired a 15 minute capsule from his channel alleging that the world would end in three days.

In the final round each contestant was asked to say what they would do to improve things around them. Deve Gowda said he would commit suicide, while Shivaraj Patil said he would resign once again and Rajat Sharma simply smiled and said he would shut down his television channel. Mamta and Raj were both silent and did not have anything to say as both of them claimed that they couldn’t do anything right. At the end of the event, both Raj and Mamta were tied up at 700 points. A tie breaker question asked by Arnab Goatsawme failed to break the stalemate and both freaky politicians were declared joint winners. Last year’s winner Prakash Karat, who arrived on a Chinese visa, gave away the prizes.

Winners Raj and Mamta now win a one way ticket to Timbuktoo. But before that, their Indian passports will be revoked in a public ceremony. Sore loser Deve Gowda, who lost the battle for the fourth year running, was angry with the format of the show which didn’t impress the bribe demanding son of spoil. Commies refused to participate as the show was too capitalistic for them.

The organizers would like to thank Scaretell (communication partner), Crimes of India and Crimes Now (Media partners), Satyam (IT partner) and icicicicici bank (finance partner).