Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Thursday said actor Kangana Ranaut’s comment that India attained freedom in 2014 and what the country got in 1947 was charity is an insult to freedom fighters.
The actor made the comment on Wednesday at the Times Now Summit. “It wasn’t azaadi [freedom] but bheek [alms], and the freedom came in 2014,” she had said in an apparent reference to the year in which the Bharatiya Janata Party was elected to power. She is an ardent supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party.
Reacting to her remark, Kapoor tweeted: “Being the son of a freedom fighter and coming from the family of freedom fighters, Kangana Ranaut’s statement that India’s Independence was given in bheek, I find it the biggest abuse of freedom and an insult to the sacrifice of freedom fighters.”
He said he wished that the judicial system of India took cognisance of her comment. However, he told PTI on Friday that he posted his tweet in his personal capacity.
Times Now on Friday said it did not support the actor’s comment after a huge controversy erupted.
“Kangana Ranaut may think India got Independence in 2014 but this cannot be endorsed by any true Indian,” the channel said in a tweet. “This is an insult to millions of freedom fighters who gave up their lives so that present generations can live a life of self-respect and dignity as free citizens of a democracy.”
On Thursday, BJP MP Varun Gandhi had also denounced Ranaut’s comment.
“Sometimes an insult to the sacrifice and penance of Mahatma Gandhi, sometimes the respect of his killer, and now the disdain for the sacrifices of millions of freedom fighters from Shaheed Mangal Pandey to Rani Laxmibai, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and more,” Gandhi said in a tweet.
He wondered if he should call this “madness or treason”.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said President Ram Nath Kovind should take back the Padma award given to the actor. The 34-year-old actor was awarded the Padma Shree on Monday.
“Before giving such awards, mental psychological evaluation should be done so that in future such people do not disrespect the country and its heroes,” Sharma said in a tweet.
In a series of tweets, Sharma also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak up on the matter and tell the country if he supports Ranaut’s views. “If not, then the government should take appropriate legal action against such people,” Sharma added.
Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson Nawab Malik also told Aaj Tak that the Padma Shri awarded to Ranaut should be taken back and that she should be arrested.
Malik said that the actor hurt the sentiments of crores of people in the country. “We believe that this is an insult to freedom fighters,” he said. “You [Ranaut] made a film about Rani Laxmibai and made money out of it. You could have at least shown respect to her.”
Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, seeking the withdrawal of the civilian award for her “seditious public statement”.
Ranaut has made several controversial statements earlier too. Currently, she is facing a defamation case filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar for her comments about him.
In May, social media company Twitter had permanently suspended her account on the platform. A Twitter spokesperson had then said that Ranaut repeatedly violated the company’s policy on “hateful conduct and abusive behaviour”.
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