‘Desh ke pita nahi…’: Kangana Ranaut sparks fresh row with Gandhi Jayanti post, Congress' ‘Godse devotee’ retort
Kangana Ranaut's social media post on Gandhi Jayanti sparked a fresh political row, with Congress dubbing her comments “lewd”.
Lok Sabha MP Kangana Ranaut sparked a fresh controversy on Wednesday, this time with her social media post on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. The actress paid tribute to Shastri on his 120th birth anniversary in a post, that Congress claimed downplayed the stature of Mahatma Gandhi as the Father of the Nation.
Posting on her Instagram stories, 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 another Instagram post, the Mandi MP credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for carrying on Gandhi's legacy of cleanliness in the country. This prompted multiple attacks from the Congress party, who dubbed her comments as lewd and condemnable.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate posted on X, “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.”
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Manoranjan Kalia, a senior BJP leader from Punjab, also slammed Kangana for her remarks on Gandhi Jayanti, saying that politics is not her field.
In a video posted on social media, Kalia said, “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. Politics is not her field. Politics is a serious affair. One must think before speaking... Her controversial remarks cause trouble for the party.”
This comes days after Kangana Ranaut faced backlash over her remarks advocating the return of the now rolled-back farm laws. After backlash, Kangana said that her remarks did not reflect the ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The actor, who was elected as an MP in June, 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.
(With inputs from PTI)
