Navika Kumar Issues Apology: Times Now's Journalist Navika Kumar had to face the ire of netizens when her clip where she used a derogatory term for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on live TV went viral. Since then, #KachraNavika has been trending on Twitter with netizens demanding her apology or resignation for the same.
The incident took place on the night of September 28 when Kumar was hosting a panel discussion soon after former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu announced his resignation from the Congress party. The panel she hosted was titled “Cong Comedy Of Errors” on TIMES NOW, she used the term “bloody…” while talking about Rahul Gandhi. She was referring to his return from a vacation. “And the day he returns bloody…” she said quickly realising that she had used an inappropriate term on live tv.
Here's how social media reacted to the controversy
Hey @vineetjaintimes
— Vinay Kumar Dokania (@VinayDokania) September 28, 2021
Your Editor @navikakumar is unfit to be allowed on Live TV. She has lost her mind. Abusing Sh @RahulGandhi on TV to satisfy her political bias and please her BJP bosses is UNPARDONABLE, UNACCEPTABLE AND SHAMEFUL#KachraNavikapic.twitter.com/3TSHnH2Ujs
Even by your 'Kachra' standards, this is truly reprehensible.
— Ruchira Chaturvedi (@RuchiraC) September 28, 2021
Shame on you, @navikakumar!pic.twitter.com/JMhUFD4HaC
How dare #KachraNavika use derogatory language against @RahulGandhi.
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) September 28, 2021
It's a warning to @TimesNow and @navikakumar .. they must publicly apologise or face consequences in a Gandhian way!@vineetjaintimes is this your news channel or what? APOLOGISE! pic.twitter.com/DvlZrR9UlT
Bloody?? Really @navikakumar??? Is that how you address a national leader with your low level cheap statements? @TimesNow we demand an immediate apology!! @tehseenp something really funny for you to laugh about it?? pic.twitter.com/2ijdgK40OH#KachraNavika
— Ansaar ✋ (@Ansaar_Al1) September 28, 2021
She recently took to Twitter from the official handle of Times Now apologising for the inappropriate words she used while anchoring. She said that she had apologised during the show also. She said that she has done thousands of years of anchoring and has never made this mistake in the past but she erred yesterday. She added that it was unintentional and the word she used was for a political situation and not for any specific person. "My intention was not to hurt any person's sentiments", she concluded.
TIMES NOW CLARIFICATION pic.twitter.com/J84BFIHLaZ
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 29, 2021
Last night also, Navika Kumar had taken to Twitter and apologised for her remarks. She wrote, "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 apologies for the same."
🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/33ABPUfLw4
— Navika Kumar (@navikakumar) September 28, 2021
Her tweet has got 840 likes and 771 comments.
It is not the first time when Navika Kumar has embroiled herself in controversy. Last month, she asked Olympic Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra if he had a girlfriend or not. “My sole focus right now is only on my game,” Chopra told Navika. This was followed by Navika declaring him to be "the most eligible bachelor of the country".
A lot of netizens had taken to social media to criticize Navika for asking such questions from Chopra. One user wrote that the country didn't want to know about his girlfriend. They were more interested in knowing how he dealt with the challenges that life was continuously throwing at him. Read more about this here.
Last week after India's first secretary to United Nations, Sneha Dubey was seen rejecting an interview with television journalist Anjana Om Kashyap. The video gone viral and many called Kashyap for forcing Dubey for a live interview when had already denied to do so. After Kashyap asked her say something on her rebuttal to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dubey said that she had already saying everything she had to say during the UN assembly. She then joined her hands and asked Kashyap to leave the room. Read more here.
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