Times Now’s Navika Kumar has issued another apology, this time in a video broadcast, after she faced considerable condemnation for using a derogatory word for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during a TV broadcast on Times Now, titled ‘Cong Comedy Of Errors.’
The video apology by a visibly shaken Navika was tweeted by Times Now from its official handle. Navika said in the video apology, “Yesterday, on my show, I made a mistake, used an unparliamentary word and during that show I apologised for that word. It shouldn’t have been used. I’ve done thousands of hours of anchoring. I’ve never made this mistake in the past. But yesterday, ghalti hui.”
She added, “All I want to say is that I’ve made a mistake but this was unintentional and this was not about a person in particular. This was about a political situation.
“All I want to say is that it’s not a bad thing to ask for forgiveness for a mistake. I seek forgiveness if my word has hurt anyone or anyone felt bad. I had no such intention. I want to say that I’ve made one mistake after doing thousands of hours of anchoring in the last 16 years. I seek forgiveness for that.”
TIMES NOW CLARIFICATION pic.twitter.com/J84BFIHLaZ
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 29, 2021
This was the second apology by the controversial TV anchor in the last few hours. She had earlier tweeted a statement apologising for the use of the derogatory word for Gandhi during her show.
She had stated, “The momentary lapse in the flow of conversation in using an unparliamentary word on air was in the context of describing the political situation in Punjab which Shri Rahul Gandhi thought had been addressed before he took a break but persisted ironically at the time of his return. The context was certainly not to describe any person as is being misquoted. As can be seen in the clip, it was unintentional and immediately retracted. Sincere apology for the lapse.”
The video of Navika using an unparliamentary word for Gandhi had gone viral with Congress leaders from around the country threatening to launch a stir against Times Group, which owns the controversial TV channel.