5 months ago
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Kulvinder Kaur - the airport security official suspended and arrested after she allegedly slapped actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut - struck a defiant note Friday, posting on X (formerly Twitter), "I am not afraid of losing this job... I am ready to lose thousands of such jobs for my mother's respect."
Ms Kaur allegedly slapped Ms Ranaut - who won Himachal Pradesh's Mandi seat - at the airport Thursday, while she was waiting to board a Delhi flight, and accused her of "disrespecting farmers".
Within hours she was suspended and an inquiry was ordered and, this morning Ms Kaur, a CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) Constable, was arrested.
मुझे नौकरी की फिक्र नहीं है,
मां की इज्जत पर ऐसी हजारों नौकरियां कुर्बान है- कुलविंदर कौर
On Thursday - after the video of the spat broke online - Ms Kaur said she reacted to a 2020 remark by the actor about protests against the Modi government's farm laws, which triggered a nationwide agitation that included tens of thousands of farmers barricading and blocking access to Delhi.
"She (Ms Ranaut) gave a statement... farmers are sitting for Rs 100. Will she go and sit? My mother was sitting and protesting when she said this..." Ms Kaur said.
READ | "My Mother Was At Farmers Protest": Cop Who "Slapped" Kangana
The mobile footage that went viral showed Ms Ranaut escorted to a check-in counter and, when she reaches it, an altercation breaks out with Ms Kaur. The video does not show her being slapped.
Initially quiet, Ms Ranaut later raged about "terrorism rising in Punjab".
Shocking rise in terror and violence in Punjab…. pic.twitter.com/7aefpp4blQ
— Kangana Ranaut (Modi Ka Parivar) (@KanganaTeam) June 6, 2024"The incident happened at the security check-in. The woman guard waited for me to cross. She then came and hit me... started throwing expletives. I asked (her) why she hit me. She said, 'I support farmers'. I am safe... but my concern is terrorism is rising in Punjab. How do we handle that?" she said in her message.
READ | "Was Hit On Face, Abused": Kangana After Alleged Slap At Airport
Ms Kaur, a Constable in the Central Industrial Security Force, or CISF, was referring to a crude and widely criticised jibe Ms Ranaut posted on X (then Twitter) in 2020 during the height of a nationwide protest by farmers against three farm laws passed, under contentious circumstances, by the centre.
Kangana Ranaut And Farmers' Protest
In a social media post Ms Ranaut had tweeted about an elderly woman seen at one of the protests and said she was "available for Rs 100". She was forced to delete the tweet after public outrage.
The farmers' protest that erupted in 2020/21 - and has rumbled on since, potentially costing the BJP key Lok Sabha seats in agrarian states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where the party dropped five and 29 seats to the Congress and Samajwadi Party - made headlines both in the country and abroad.
READ | Kangana Ranaut Slap Spotlights Controversial 2020 Comment
Ms Ranaut has had several run-ins with the protesting farmers; apart from the 2020 and 2021 tweets, her convoy was blocked by agitators while she was trying to campaign in Chandigarh.
Earlier today some farmer groups - including the non-political wing of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation that led the 2020/21 farmers protest that rallied lakhs of farmers to a common cause - expressed support for Ms Kaur and called for an investigation.
"We demand a proper investigation... there should be no injustice with the woman constable," Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the SKM (non-political) leader said, citing unconfirmed reports Ms Kaur had asked to examine the actor-politician's handbag and mobile phone before boarding her flight to Delhi.
"Everyone knows the track record of Ranaut and the kind of language she has used towards farmers. There must have been an argument which led to the incident. A proper investigation is needed."
Kangana Ranaut's Rihanna Tweet
Ms Ranaut also made headlines in February 2021 after international pop star Rihanna seemed to criticise the BJP government over the farmers' protest and said, "Why aren't we talking about this?"
To this, Ms Ranaut had responded, "No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like the USA... Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies."
Ms Kangana later deleted that post too.
Also, more recently her convoy was blocked while campaigning in Chandigarh.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has said an inquiry is underway. "Action will be taken against the accused. It is sad a security person is involved in this. Whatever happened was wrong..."
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