The so-called standup comedian, Kunal Kamra, whose desperate attempts at grabbing attention by heckling Arnab Goswami on an IndiGo flight, triggered outrage on Twitter, has now landed in big trouble over his cheap antics.
Announcing the decision of imposing a six-month suspension on Kamra, IndiGo has tweeted, “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.”
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri 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. 1/2
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) January 28, 2020
Yesterday, Kamra had posted a video, in which the unfunny comedian can be seen heckling Arnab Goswami, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV.
I did this for my hero…
I did it for Rohit pic.twitter.com/aMSdiTanHo— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 28, 2020
While Goswami maintained his composure and remained glued to his laptop, Kamra had severe verbal diarrhoea. At the beginning of the video, the out of job comedian can be heard saying, “Here I’m asking coward Arnab Goswami a question about his journalism and he is doing exactly what I expected him to do.”
Arnab Goswami, however, didn’t react or reply to repeated provocations, while Kamra added, “He’s being a coward. First, he called me mentally unstable, and now he’s saying ‘I’m watching something’. He’s not ready to answer my questions, viewers.”
Throughout this video, Kamra can be taunting Goswami by calling him ‘Nationalist’ as if being a staunch nationalist is a matter of shame.
He also posted a tweet about the incident which reveals his unruly behaviour on the flight that bordered on mental instability. In a crass and abusive tweet, he said, “Met Arnab Goswami on a flight & gave him a monologue about his ‘journalism’. All he did was call me mentally unstable & after some time I had no choice but to return to my seat. The entire flight I’ll keep pretending to use the loo just to tell him he’s a piece of SHIT. F*CK Arnab.”
Met Arnab Goswami on a flight & gave him a monologue about his ‘journalism’
All he did was call me mentally unstable & after sometime I had no choice but to return to my seat.
The entire flight I’ll keep pretending to use the loo just to tell him he’s piece of SHIT
F*CK Arnab
— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 28, 2020
While Kamra is now trying to brag about himself as some sort of a courageous man who stood up against a ‘coward’ Arnab Goswami, Kamra had himself exercised restraint, not very long ago, after his rabid Hindu hating utterances had let to an outrage in the year 2018. While Goswami’s restraint was to ensure that the situation in the flight did not escalate into an emergency owing to Kamra’s unruly behaviour, Kamra’s restraint was more about escaping from a tight spot that he had found himself in.
So Arnab chose not to respond to an out-of-job unfunny comedian to maintain peace and order in a public vehicle.
Here's Mr. Kamra exercising restraint to avoid getting Prasad from publichttps://t.co/VbnT5Dx4Px https://t.co/L5DXRCiGR2
— The Frustrated Indian (@FrustIndian) January 28, 2020
Kamra’s tweet is thus a confession of his unruly behaviour not just invading the private space of Arnab Goswami, but also seriously inconveniencing other co-passengers in the IndiGo flight. It is thus only appropriate that he has been suspended for six months from travelling with the IndiGo.
Kamra’s almost-lunatic behaviour also led to Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri advising other Airlines to impose similar restrictions on Kamra as those imposed by IndiGo. He tweeted, “Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is unacceptable & endangers the safety of air travellers. We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned.”
Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers.
We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned. https://t.co/UHKKZfdTVS
— Hardeep Singh Puri (मोदी का परिवार) (@HardeepSPuri) January 28, 2020
The National Carrier of India, Air India, has also announced restrictions on Kamra, following his disgusting behaviour on the IndiGo flight. It tweeted, “In view of the incident onboard @IndiGo6E, Air India wishes to inform that conduct of Person concerned is unacceptable. With a view to discourage such behaviour onboard flts, Mr Kunal Kamra is suspended from flying on any Air India flt until further notice.”
#FlyAI: In view of the incident onboard @IndiGo6E, Air India wishes to inform that conduct of Person concerned is unacceptable.With a view to discourage such behavior onboard flts, Mr Kunal Kamra is suspended from flying on any Air India flt until further notice. @HardeepSPuri .
— Air India (@airindia) January 28, 2020
Kamra’s offensive behaviour reveals how he can be a potential danger to fellow travellers. His eccentric behaviour on the IndiGo flight that bordered on mental retardation is the reason why he has got suspended by IndiGo and Air India in the first place. Now, one expects that other Airlines will also exercise their option of imposing similar fetters upon Kamra.
As far as the rules regarding grounding a person are concerned, all Airlines, whether International or Domestic, have the option of grounding the violator for the same time as the affected Airline (IndiGo in this case). Air India and IndiGo have thus set a really good example. Convenience and safety of other passengers is an unnegotiable consideration. Now, other airlines must also follow the suit and put Kamra in the No Fly List.
