Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has faced intense social media roasting for ordering airline companies to announce coercive action against comedian Kunal Kamra hours after he ambushed controversial anchor Arnab Goswami mid-air. Puri’s nimble-footedness has prompted many to question his double-standards as they reminded him why he was silent when his party colleague and terror-accused MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur had created a ruckus inside a flight demanding first-class treatment.
Last month, brave passengers had to ask the terror-accused BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur if she had any shame left after she was accused of delaying the plane because of some tantrums. Puri, who’s the civil aviation minister in the central government, had not made any statement even after the video of his party colleague’s shenanigans had gone viral.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh asked, “How can Air India or Indigo prohibit a passenger to travel on an Airline? And Air India has tagged their tweet to the Minister Hardeep Puri. Has the Minister given such orders? Civil Aviation Ministry must clarify.”
Mr Puri, I am extremely impressed with your swift action. Just wondering why no action was taken against terror accused, MP from your party Pragaya Thakur Singh? She disrupted a flight https://t.co/7cywS1d8eI
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) January 28, 2020
Dear Air India:
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
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) January 28, 2020
Soon after Puri advised airline companies to act against the popular comedian for grilling a controversial TV anchor, Air India too announced that it was banning Kunal Kamra. Its tweet read, “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.” The airline, which is about to be sold to a private player by the current government, also tagged Puri on Twitter to inform him that the airline company had acted on his advice.
Meanwhile, Twitterati have decided to boycott IndiGo for its decision to ban Kunal.
#BoycottIndigo Alle le le! Last I checked, Air India was no sale ??#KunalKamra Kunal Kamra cannot even Boycott haha
Good try! Better luck next time! pic.twitter.com/lgPelTRUFC
— Einstein ?? (@DesiPoliticks) January 28, 2020
#BoycottIndigo With Indigo logic, BJP MP Pragya Thakur:
Grabbed first class seat on SpiceJet Airlines while it wasn’t her
Being in wheelchair she refused to move to a non-emergency seat
Her offensive behaviour resulted in 45m flight delay#KunalKamra did nothing of that sort! pic.twitter.com/mpHaAx4kXx— Einstein ?? (@DesiPoliticks) January 28, 2020
Had only one booking with a non @Indigo6E Airlines (spicejet) for the last two years I will opt for Indian Railways or any non-Indigo airlines for my next journey. #BoycottIndigo #indigoonairlines #indigo pic.twitter.com/Jn96EVeDWM
— vaisaak (@vaisaak) January 28, 2020
Nothing Harsh, Nothing Angry.
Let’s Casually #BoycottIndigo. https://t.co/KpJQPGGTCE— Darab Farooqui (@darab_farooqui) January 28, 2020
#BoycottIndigo #boycottairindia @HardeepSPuri please watch and ban some reporters like this too
Ridiculous sabbikehuehain @kunalkamra88 @ArnabGoswamiRtv pic.twitter.com/OAFoLkOir8— sunny anand (@sunnyanand0) January 28, 2020
Comedian Kunal Kamra on Tuesday had posted a video of Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami being ambushed by him in mid-air on board an IndiGo flight. In the video, Kunal could be seen challenging Goswami for a debate over a programme he broadcast questioning the caste of Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula in 2016 at Hyderabad University.
