Hours after India’s largest budget carrier IndiGo Airlines suspended stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for six months for allegedly heckling senior journalist Arnab Goswami onboard, national carrier Air India issued a similar statement, suspending him from flying on its flights until further notice.In view of incident onboard IndiGo 6E, AI wishes to inform that conduct of person concerned is unacceptable. With view to discourage such behaviour onboard, Kunal is suspended from flying on AI flights until further notice,†Air India said in a statement.
Earlier in the evening, IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for six months after he allegedly heckled Goswami aboard its Mumbai-Lucknow flight.
Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took notice of the incident and “advised” other airlines in India to impose similar restriction on Kamra, stating “offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers”.
A senior Air India official also said Kamra will be banned from flying with the airline, but did not specify the duration.Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo’s Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday.
“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,” IndiGo said on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
“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.
In a video clip posted by Kamra on Twitter, the stand-up comedian is seen asking Goswami if he is a “coward or a journalist”.
While Goswami can be seen sitting in the plane and watching something on his laptop with his earphones plugged in, Kamra is heard as telling him: “Viewers want to know if Arnab today is a coward or a nationalist. Arnab, this is for national interest. I am part of the tukde-tukde narrative. You should deflate me. You should take the enemy of the states down. You should make sure that the country is in safe hands of Narendra Modi.”
“You should fight against dynasts like Rahul Gandhi, who I support, on 10 Tughlaq Lane. Arnab, you should have a reply, Arnab. Arnab, are you a coward or are you a journalist? Are you a coward or are you a journalist or a nationalist? Who are you, Arnab? Who are you?” Kamra can be heard as saying in the video clip.
“You know, you do not deserve my politeness. This is not for you. This is for Rohith Vemula’s mother whose caste you were discussing on your…show. I know this is not allowed. This is fine. It’s fine if it is not allowed. I’d go to jail for this.
“But this is for Rohit’s mother. And go…find time and read that 10-page suicide letter that Rohit wrote so that you have some emotion or some heart or you just become human. Do that. Do that you in your free time. You nationalist.” Kamra can be heard as saying.
While IndiGo has barred Kamra from flying in its flights for a period of six months, other airlines have not stated if they will be doing the same.
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