Daijiworld Media Network
New Delhi, Jan 28: Popular stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Tuesday January 28 shared a video wherein he is questioning journalist and television news anchor Arnab Goswami on a flight, even as the latter chooses to ignore him. The video has gone viral on social media, and following the incident, IndiGo airline suspended Kamra for a period of six months.
Kamra approached Goswami who was in the same flight that he was, and asked if he could have a conversation with him. However, upon being ignored, he gave him a piece of his mind on what he felt about ‘journalism’ and also called him a 'coward'.
Kamra recorded the entire incident of him speaking to the founder of Republic TV and the latter ignoring him, and uploaded the same with a tweet, "I I did this for my hero...I did it for Rohit," referring to Rohit Vemula, the Dalit research scholar whose suicide in 2015 had sparked protests across the country.
(Warning: Video contains expletives, viewer discretion advised)
The video immediately went viral. Later in the evening, Kamra posted another tweet, giving out an official statement about the entire episode, and apologising to other passengers, 'except one' (Goswami).
"Today I met Arnab Goswami in a flight to Lucknow (6E 5317), and politely asked him to have a conversation. At first, he pretended to be on a phone call. I waited for his so called phone call to get over. Seatbelt signs were off at this time. I gave him a monologue about what I felt about his "journalism". He refused to answer any questions, he called me 'mentally unstable'.
"The stewardess asked me to take my seat as the seatbelt signs had just come on. Post take off, when the seatbelt signs were off again, I approached him again and asked him if I could have his attention. He said he is watching something, and he doesn't want to talk. So I did exactly what Republic TV journalists do to people in their private/public spaces and I don’t regret it. I’m not sorry for it.... I don’t think I did anything wrong/criminal. Don’t let this be about my bravado. I do apologise to every passenger except one," said Kamra.
The video has taken Twitter by storm and the Twitteratti is divided. While many appreciated Kamra for giving the journalist a taste of his own medicine, some called it harassment, demanding the airline IndiGo to put him on a no-fly list.
"The truth is that it was time someone gave him a taste of his own medicine. These are the words he regularly uses to berate his innocent victims, except he does so in a hectoring, bullying manner and at higher volume and pitch than Kunal Kamra does in this video," politician and member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor tweeted.
Kamra also posted a message to his ‘haters’.
"To all you ‘Nationalists’, A member of the Anti-national club approached Arnab for a dialogue, he could educate me better on national interests & how I should keep nation first... instead of that he chose to watch some shitty movie & not engage. Arnab your mask is off...”
While debate was on with some supporting and others ridiculing Kamra, some on Twitter found it hard to believe that Arnab stayed silent and allowed another person to speak. A series of funny trolls are being shared on Twitter. This incident has left Kamra as well as Goswami trending on Twitter.
Taking action in the matter, IndiGo suspended Kunal Kamra from flying on its airline for six months, calling his behaviour 'unacceptable'. In a Tweet, IndiGo said, "In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour." The airline also advised passengers to "refrain from indulging in personal slander whilst onboard, as this can potentially compromise the safety of fellow passengers."
Reacting to the suspension, Kunal Kamra took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, "Thank you Indigo a six month suspension is honestly very kind of you...Modiji might be suspending Air India forever."
Meanwhile, a person named Rahul R has started a change.org petition demanding that Kunal Kamra be placed on a ‘no-fly’ list.
"Personal privacy is an integral part of travel, whatever be the means of travel. Any person misbehaving or acting in a frivolous manner while recording another passenger without consent makes travel very uncomfortable and unsafe for many. These actions have no place in a civilised society and such actions should result in a lifetime ban of a passenger to make sure that travel is safe for the thousands of other innocent passengers that use these means of transportation,” he wrote in his petition.