Getting banned for the right to speech not shocking: Kunal Kamra
Mumbai: Reacting to three airlines banning him from flying for allegedly heckling television journalist Arnab Goswami aboard a flight, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Wednesday said he was never "unruly or disruptive".
He also said the flying suspension was not "shocking" for him.
"The comedian was suspended from flying by IndiGo and Air India on Tuesday after he allegedly heckled Goswami aboard a Mumbai-Lucknow plane and posted a video clip on his Twitter handle.
SpiceJet became the third airline which suspended Kamra from flying until further notice on Wednesday. On Tuesday, IndiGo had suspended Kamra from flying for a period of six months and Air India until further notice.
Shortly after SpiceJet suspended him from flying with the airline, the comedian posted a sarcastic tweet: "Modiji can I walk yaan uspe bhi baan hai (Modi ji can I walk or is there a ban even on that)" and added crying emojis after his tweet.
In a statement issued on Twitter, Kamra said at no point did he not follow the orders of the cabin crew in the (Mumbai-Lucknow) flight.
"It's not shocking at all to me that for exercising my right to speech, which falls under Article 19 of our constitution, 3 airlines have given me a temporary ban from flying. Fact of the matter is that at no point was I disruptive and at no point did I not follow the orders of the cabin crew or the captain," he tweeted.
"At no point did I endanger the safety of any passenger on board, the only damage I caused was to the inflated ego to the 'journalist' Arnab Goswami," he stated.
Kamra said he had not travelled with SpiceJet or Air India in this event and there is no "pattern of him being unruly".
"This was the first time something like this has happened, so why have they jumped the gun and banned me? I've travelled SpiceJet and Air India in the past. There have been no complaints against me ever, only selfies and love has been shared by the crew," he tweeted.
The comedian further said that as per his "limited knowledge" no formal complaint was made by the crew, Goswami or anyone else on board the (Mumbai-Lucknow) flight.
"Whenever there was an intervention by any member of the crew I complied. If expressing myself to an important public figure, who himself points a camera day in and day out, catching people off guard is a crime, then Both of us are criminals," he wrote.
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India-bound LPG tanker clears Hormuz
New Delhi (PTI): A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India has sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed towards the country, an official statement said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti, loaded with 46,313 tonnes of LPG and staffed by 20 crew, including 18 Indians, cleared the key shipping chokepoint on May 2 and is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on May 13, it said.
The cargo -- enough to meet half a days requirement of the country -- will partly tide over supply constraints being faced since the start of the West Asia conflict more than two months back.
Ship-tracking data showed its position in Oman Gulf on Sunday evening.
The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports, has been chartered by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Sarv Shakti is the first India-linked tanker to cross the war zone since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to almost zero.
There are as many as 14 Indian flagged or India-owned vessels still stranded on the west side of the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement said no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions and maritime stakeholders to ensure crew welfare and uninterrupted operations.
The Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) control room has handled 8,373 calls and more than 17,965 emails since activation, including 38 calls and 127 emails in the last 24 hours.
India has also facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,953 seafarers so far, including 31 in the past day from across the Gulf region.
Port operations across the country remain normal with no congestion reported, the statement added.
