#BoycottIndigo trends after airline suspends comedian Kunal Kamra for heckling Arnab Goswami

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra was suspended from flying by IndiGo and Air India on Tuesday after he allegedly heckled journalist Arnab Goswami aboard a Mumbai-Lucknow plane of the private airline. While IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months, Air India banned him until further notice.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, #BoycottIndigo trended on Twitter. While some users expressed shock over 'inaction' by the airline, others claimed the suspension of the comedian was "biased and motivated". 

Following the minister's remarks, Vistara said it will "review and follow due process in such cases".

Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo's Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday. Kamra took to Twitter to share the video of the entire episode. In the video, the anchor can be seen trying to avoid Kamra even as the comic continues to pose him a few questions and call him a “coward” repeatedly.

“First he called me mentally unstable, then he is saying I am watching something,” Kamra is heard saying, adding, “ he [Goswami] is not ready to answer my question". “Viewers today wants to know if Arnab is a coward or a nationalist,” the comic questions the journalist, parodying the latter's own style of questioning his panelists in his popular news show.

"I am part of the tukde-tukde narrative. You should deflate me. You should take enemies of the state down. You should make sure the country is in safe hands," the comic is heard saying, even as the journalist continues to remain silent.

“Are you a coward or are you a nationalist,” the comic continues to ask him. Further, Kamra says he wanted to have a polite conversation with the journalist, but adds that Goswami does not “deserve” his politeness. "This is for Rohith Vemula's mother whose caste you were discussing on your show," the comic is heard saying. Even as he continues to taunt the journalist for more than a minute, none of the co-passengers are seen interfering.

IndiGo 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."

"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.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor weighed in on the video and said, "The truth is that it was time someone gave him (Goswami) 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 Kunal Kamra does in this video," Tharoor tweeted.

When a Twitter user alleged that Tharoor was endorsing public heckling and forced debates, he responded by saying, "On the contrary: I deplore & condemn what was done to me & therefore approve of teaching the incorrigible what it feels like to be treated that way."

"His [Goswami's] goons, armed with cameras and mics as their weapons, have done exactly the same thing to me, in almost exactly the same words, on two separate flights until asked to desist by air crew," Tharoor alleged.