''The intention was right but the platform was not,'' comedians react to Kunal Kamra's "altercation" with Arnab Goswami

Manpriya Singh

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As many as four airlines grounded comedian Kunal Kamra for ‘heckling’ one of their passengers; the passenger in question, Arnab Goswami, happens to be the editor of a TV channel. While Kunal Kamra stands by his stance of making a video, asking questions and almost mocking Arnab, who was aboard the same flight, Twitter remains divided and the trolls have a field day.

“To be honest, the intention was right but the platform was not,” says comedian Abhishek Walia who personally admits to being, “a no fan of Arnab Goswami, but there is a place and manner of going about things. I anyway do not approve of this whole troll culture at all, which is pretty much what happened in this instance.”

He adds, “Monologues are what we accuse and disapprove of in these so-called debate shows on the news channels, and monologue is pretty much what happened here.”

Is it satire?

Satire’s importance in any functioning democracy cannot be underlined enough. So is humour to do with politics and politicians alike?

“Due of their tendency to get into controversy and deviate from humour is why I steer clear of religion, politics, political leaders and poverty in my jokes,” says motivational comedian Khayali Saharan, who has been in the situation that Arnab found himself in several times.

“You could be in the middle of anywhere and people straightaway approach you asking, ‘Why is there vulgarity in humour’?” A question that graduates onto criticising, objecting and even getting aggressive at the same time!

It’s about how you interpret the situation; he adds, “In my opinion, this was direct confrontation and questioning.” Something that has happened before, umpteen times!

However, there is a difference between asking questions on any platform, questioning ethics and breaching the privacy of a public figure aboard a flight. While Arnab Goswami finds support in Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri, who says, “Offensive behaviour designed to provoke and create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable and endangers safety of air travelers. We are left with no option, but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned.”

Also Read: 

• Airlines’ action in consonance with regulations: DGCA on Kamra ban
• IndiGo suspends comedian Kamra from flying for 6 months for ‘heckling’ Arnab Goswami

Support corner

Meanwhile, Kunal finds an applauding audience in Shashi Tharoor, who tweeted, “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 and at a higher volume and pitch than Kunal Kamra does in this video.”

Alongside two more videos have gone viral; one going far back in 2017 when a TV reporter insistently questioned RJD politician Tejashwi Yadav during a flight while the second of none other than Pragya Thakur. “Why not Pragya Thakur,” question the trolls, tagging IndiGo, Air India and Spice Jet, as a video shows a passenger pointing out how her refusal to change her seat delayed the flight by 45 minutes. Not the first time! Not that the war of words has ended or even the funny Tweets. “It’s all about interpretation,” musician Sumit Roy sees the whole situation as nothing more than a simple vocal act. “In my opinion it was the exercise of freedom of speech and that’s how I view the whole situation.”

‘Can I walk,’ Kunal Kamra’s latest barb shows he hasn’t lost his sense of humour, despite having only a few options to travel now. Well as per the memes, it’s bullock cart, bus services, train and flying Tom and Jerry. Neither have the netizens lost their sense of humour!