After standup comedian, Kunal Kamra’s video, interrogating Arnab Goswami onboard a IndiGo flight went viral on Tuesday, IndiGo and Air India, followed byJet Airways and SpiceJet have banned him from flying with them until any further notice.
The encounter occurred on a IndiGo airlines flight from Mumbai to Lucknow.
According to Kamra’s statements, he met Mr Goswami aboard the plane and “politely asked him to have a conversation”, but that the journalist had “pretended to be on a phone call”.
After repeatedly trying to ask him questions on journalism, Kamra took the video of him berating Mr Goswami using some of his own catchphrases like “the nation wants to know!” He also repeatedly asks “if Arnab is a coward or a nationalist”.
In the video, the comedian called Goswami out for his journalism, calling him a ‘coward’ among other things and accused him of being a hypocrite.
“FYI – Arnab Goswami was in my flight again this morning while returning from Lucknow… I again asked him politely if he wants to have an honest discussion he with his verbal arrogant hand jester he asked me to move away and I did that,” Kamra tweeted on Wednesday morning.
“Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable and endangers safety of air travellers. We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri posted on Twitter.
Following the action from Air India, Jet Airways, in an official statement, on Wednesday tweeted that the conduct of Kamra was “unacceptable” and suspended him “from flying on any Jet Airways flights until further notice.
So far, IndiGo, Air India, spicejet, and Jet Airways have banned Kamra from flying with them. While IndiGo has suspended him from flying for a period of six months, others have banned him “till further notice”.
“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 IndiGo airline said in a tweet while tagging Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
“Hereby, we wish to advise our passengers to refrain from indulging in personal slander whilst onboard, as this can potentially compromise the safety of fellow passengers,” it added.
Users on Twitter and on other social media platforms have gotten divided with two different opinions, some are terming the incident as an act of courage and others, a source of harassment for Goswami.
