Rahul Gandhi calls ban on Kunal Kamra by four airlines 'act of coward'

Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the move of four airlines banning comedian Kunal Kamra for heckling a television channel editor on an IndiGo flight on Tuesday, calling the act of ‘a coward leveraging his influence with the government to silence a critic.'

He went on to say, "Those who use their 'news' cameras as 24x7 tools of propaganda, should show some spine when the camera is turned on them."

The Congress leader's reaction came after SpiceJet and GoAir banned Kamra from flying with them, a day after IndiGo and Air India suspended him.

On the other hand, Director General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday said that action taken by four airlines imposing flight ban on stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra was "in complete consonance with civil aviation requirements" and that a news article has "misquoted/misrepresented" the facts stated by DGCA. In a statement released, the DGCA has said that the matter will be referred to the internal committees.

The ban was imposed after Kamra recorded himself heckling the television journalist during an Indigo flight. The video was posted by the comedian on his Twitter handle in which the journalist was seen with earphones plugged to his laptop and did not respond to the former's questions, jibes, and comments.

Air India, SpiceJet, and GoAir declared a ban on the comedian until further orders while IndiGo has barred him from flying for six months.

With inputs from ANI

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