Hours after the stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra posted a video of his encounter with Republic TV editor and journalist Arnab Goswami that ensued a one-sided conversation, Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri took to Twitter to expose ‘how his interview was never published’ and ‘lies on Rohith Vemula’s suicide’.
Often known to engage in a Twitter spat with Kamra, Vivek went to say ” Let me expose this most opportunist liar.”
He tweeted, “Ok friends, today let me tell you a secret about Mr. @kunalkamra88…” he adds “which I never ever told anyone. Despite Mr. Kunal Kamra making filthy, indecent tweets on me. I am doing it is because Kamra is trying to be the warrior of truth. Let me expose this most opportunist liar.”
In a Twitter thread, he said that Kamra had chased him for two year for an interview and had even sought help from him to get in touch with journalists Anand Ranganathan and Rahul Roushan.
Vivek also added that just few hours before the interview, Kamra informed him that Congress leader Sanjay Jha would also be present at the interview. “I wondered why Jha? Which I learnt later,” he said. “I realised that both work as a team n they wanted to corner me in the interview. But they couldn’t. As I exposed their nexus. What happens next will shock you,” he tweeted.
In the following tweet, he said that he had exposed Dalits+Islamist politics of Congress. He said that he asked Kamra, “Have you ever had a meal in a Dalit house? Have you ever visited any village of India?” I asked. Both were left answer less.” Following this conversation, Kamra ended the interview abruptly, Vivek said.
As alleged by Vivek, interestingly, the interview was never published. “The interview was never released. I asked him few times and he said they were editing,” Vivek said.
He also went to say that after the interview incident happened, Kamra began cracking his filthy jokes to save himself from getting exposed. He also said, “Last month when I was in London, he wanted to take a photo with me to get SM eyeballs. There are two Kunals. One on SM and one behind it.”
Vivek added that he had also asked him to shoot an unedited interview with him which he also confirmed the time and place but did not show up for it.
Vivek said that “I’d never do this but I am deeply hurt that he used Rohith Vemula’s tragic suicide.” “Kamra’s behvious must be condemned and he must be exposed,” he said.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Kamra and Goswami were travelling in an IndiGo flight 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow when the incident happened. In the video posted by Kamra on his Twitter handle, Goswami, who can be seen glued to his laptop, did not respond to the former’s heckling.
Following the incident, IndiGo, Air India and Spice Jet barred Kamra to fly with them. IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months. Union aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri had advised other airlines to impose a similar restriction on Kamra, following which Air India also banned Kamra from flying with them until further notice.
Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the Hyderabad Central University, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a hostel room on January 17, 2016. He was allegedly upset over disciplinary action taken against him by the university. His suicide had triggered a huge political furore with the then HRD Minister, Smriti Irani, coming under attack along with Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya for having written a letter related to the matter.