NEW DELHI: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday whipped up a fresh row with her social media post on the
birth anniversary
of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. The actor-turned politician's series of posts on this regard were met with criticism from the Congress party, which deemed her remarks as downplaying Gandhi's stature as the Father of the Nation.
In her first Instagram story, Kangana Ranaut wrote,
“Desh ke pita nahi, desh ke to lal hote hai.
Dhanye hain Bharat maa ke ye lal
(Country does not have fathers; it has sons. Blessed are these sons of Mother India)”. In a follow up story, the actor praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking forward Gandhi's legacy on cleanliness in the country.
The actor, who previously faced backlash for her comments on the farmers' protests, yet again found herself in the middle of a controversy with the Congress party branding her comments as "lewd and condemnable" against Mahatma Gandhi.
"BJP MP Kangana made this lewd jibe on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary. Godse worshippers draw distinctions between Bapu and Shastri ji. Will Narendra Modi wholeheartedly forgive his party's new Godse devotee? There is the Father of the Nation, there are sons, and there are martyrs. Everyone deserves respect," Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Manoranjan Kalia, a senior BJP leader from Punjab also hit out at Ranaut for her the off the cuff remarks. "I condemn Kangana Ranaut's comments made on Gandhi ji's 155th birth anniversary. In her short political career, she has developed a habit of making controversial statements," Kalia said according to news agency PTI.
"Politics is not her field. Politics is a serious affair. One must think before speaking... Her controversial remarks cause trouble for the party," he added.
This comes weeks after Kangana Ranaut faced backlash over her remarks on the now rolled-back farm laws. She had alleged that the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws was leading to a "Bangladesh-type situation in India", claiming that "dead bodies were hanging, and rapes were taking place" at the protest sites.
After backlash, the BJP Mandi MP retracted her statement and said that her remarks did not reflect the ideology of the saffron party.
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