Stand up comic Kunal Kamra is in the news for confronting and questioning Republic TV editor chief Arnab Goswami on board an IndiGo flight. The video itself has gone viral and shows Kunal questions the anchor - who has on shades and earphones and is completely unresponsive to Kunal - on his journalistic ethics.
The 1.51 minute video has divided opinions online. While some people have said that Kunal's act gave Arnab "a taste of his own medicine", others have said that even if they do not like Arnab and his brand of journalism, this sort of 'heckling' by Kunal is unacceptable.
If you don't like Arnab, don't watch him and since @kunalkamra88 already has a powerful platform, take him on directly there. Thuggish and abusive behaviour in a public space is only good for a publicity stunt but not if you have a genuine message to put across.
— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) January 28, 2020
#KunalKamra is a threat to all co passengers of an aircraft. Hence request all other airlines should ban him. #ArrestKunalKamra
— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) January 28, 2020
I DO NOT agree with Arnab , I DO NOT appear or watch his channel & I do NOT like the way he pushes his reporters to invade other people's space.
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) January 28, 2020
But heckling Arnab on an #indigoairlines flight is NOT justified. We cannot become that very thing that we oppose.
Do I think Arnab’s brand of “journalism” is a disgrace to the profession? Yes. People can go and tell him what they think of him, or not watch him. But it is still in poor taste to heckle him on a flight. I would rather not stoop to his level. https://t.co/6ssgXs7k2P
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 29, 2020
You may not agree with Arnab, and if you don’t, don’t watch him. Heckling him on a flight is not justified.
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 28, 2020
Others like Congress MP Shashi Tharoor supported Kunal and said that Arnab does the same thing to his "victims" except in a "hectoring, bullying manner and at a higher volume and pitch" .
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 & at higher volume & pitch than @kunalkamra88 does in this video. https://t.co/e94B8WcEtj
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 28, 2020
On a serious note - do you know how many times I've had hostile strangers confront & heckle me in public, because Arnab keeps showing my face on his show and calling me leader of Tukde Tukde gang, lawyer for LeT etc? Arnab puts lives at risk. @kunalkamra88 was quite civil to him.
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) January 28, 2020
If Kunal Kamra violated Arnab's Privacy by asking him questions
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) January 28, 2020
What about Arnab's reporters shoving their mike onto people's faces?
What about the many sting operations that Arnab has done?
Weren't those invasions of privacy?
Arnab got a taste of his own medicine today
Well done kunal kamra. The way you roasted arnab, was indeed hilarious, he deserved it. #WeStandWithKunal We admire your courage and chivalry Kunal. pic.twitter.com/LhSd0kzOzO
— Hansraj Meena (@ihansraj) January 28, 2020
Comedian asks uncomfortable questions to a journalist that has been spreading communal hatered by being a government stooge.
— aditi mittal (@awryaditi) January 29, 2020
Sanghis: we roam in gangs and we have not attacked journalists yet do you see how nice we are pic.twitter.com/fDzYjFDTTw
Say this loudly@kunalkamra88's Arnab video is the first mainstream use of #Counterspeech in Indian politics.
— | انوار اروند (@anivar) January 29, 2020
Arnab has an active role in making violence acceptable. Kunal addressing viewers in an Arnab method keeping him as a live visual object is sparkling #counterspeech
Some people were sharing videos of Arnab and Republic TV reporters where they were hounding people with cameras and mics, and comparing it to Kunal Kamra's video, justifying the latter's actions.
Republic's News Editor finds Tejasvi Yadav in a flight and starts questioning. To which he replies "This is not the right place".
— Bharat Ek Mauj (@BharatEkMauj) January 28, 2020
Staff requests her to get back to her seat multiple times, despite that she continues this for 2-3 minutes.
Karma is a bitch, isn't it Arnab? pic.twitter.com/YZ9JMKQAgZ
Remember how @ShashiTharoor was hounded by Arnab's thuggish @republic reporters?
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) January 28, 2020
Wasn't that an invasion of Shashi's Privacy?
Tharoor was hounded. It's not even comparable to Kamra asking questions.
Bhakts celebrated then. Why cry privacy now?pic.twitter.com/351HqnXS94
Many people drew a comparison to how terror attack accused BJP MP Pragya Thakur delayed a SpiceJet flight recently by 45 minutes, and how no action was taken against her. They said that it was unfair that Kunal Kamra has been suspended from flying IndiGo for six months and Air India until further notice because of the video.
Pragya Thakur will get away with terrorism, angry entitlement and of course brazen support of Godse in Lok Sabha, country’s highest house.
— richa singh (@richa_singh) January 28, 2020
BUT GOD FORBID IF KUNAL KAMRA USED ARNAB’s DECIBEL LEVEL QUESTIONING ON ARNAB - SIX MONTHS BAN ON FLYING, DESH NIKALA.
Boycott Indigo and Boycott Air India were trending on Twitter as people opposed the airlines for banning Kunal from traveling on their flights.
Dear Air India:
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) January 28, 2020
In your exuberance to kiss political boots, you forgot that you come under the RTI Act.
Pls keep all the required papers ready to justify how you can do this under law (when he wasn’t even a passenger).
I’m going to examine EACH one of those papers. https://t.co/wV6mNxxqSr
.@IndiGo6E & @airindiain 's actions are excessive & unjustified. Will they start banning people for their political views next?
— Pankhuri Pathak پنکھڑی (@pankhuripathak) January 29, 2020
Service providers have a duty towards the public at large. Acting as agents of a political party must come at a price.#BoycottAirIndia #BoycottIndigo
On Wednesday morning, SpiceJet also barred Kunal from flying with them until further notice.
Meanwhile Kunal Kamra issued a statement in which he said that he made the video after unsuccessfully trying multiple times to have a conversation with Arnab. He also said that he was not sorry for what he had done.