Passenger carriers GoAir and SpiceJet on Wednesday barred Indian stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from flying for portraying “unacceptable behaviour” with a TV news anchor Arnab Goswami in an IndiGo flight to Lucknow on Tuesday.
It has been alleged that Kamra, while travelling on a Mumbai-Lucknow IndiGo flight, provoked Arnab Goswami by asking questions over news presentation style. After an heated encounter, IndiGo on Tuesday suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months.
@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
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. 2/2@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) January 28, 2020
Reacting to the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers.
Following this, Air India and SpiceJet followed the suit and banned Kunal Kamra from flying with them 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 (@airindiain) January 28, 2020
SpiceJet has decided to suspend Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with the airline till further notice. @MoCA_GoI @DGCAIndia @HardeepSPuri @IndiGo6E
— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) January 29, 2020
Meanwhile, Kamra in his defense posted a statement on his Twitter handle which read, “Today I met Arnab Goswami in a flight to Lucknow, 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’.”
In another tweet, Kamra said: “Thank you Indigo a six month suspension is honestly very kind of you… Modiji might be suspending Air India forever.”
