‘Riot-instigating bigot’: Comedian put on no-fly list for heckling right-wing journalist on plane

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In his first media interview since they shared a flight from Mumbai to Lucknow on Tuesday, Kunal Kamra told The Independent that he would “never be able to make peace with ” if he passed up the opportunity to speak his mind to Republic TV’s firebrand anchor Arnab Goswami. He said that he had stayed off social media to avoid most of the social media backlash against him – “funnily enough I’ve been on airplane mode” – but was utterly unrepentant. Goswami, described by Firstpost as “easily India’s most infamous journalist”, was an anchor at the brash, conservative channel Times Now for a decade before launching the overtly pro-Modi Republic TV in May 2017. Rana Ayyub, the prominent investigative journalist and Modi critic, wrote on Twitter: “That all commercial airlines have decided to put Kunal Kamra on their ‘No fly list’ to please the government just exposes the rapport Arnab Goswami shares with the regime.” Goswami remained silent throughout the filmed confrontation with Kamra, has not commented to Indian media reports and does not maintain an active Twitter profile.