The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that it disapproved of the remarks made by its MP Kangana Ranaut calling for reinstating the farm laws that the Union government repealed in 2021 after nationwide protests, reported ANI.
Speaking at a religious fair in her Mandi constituency on Monday, Ranaut said she believes that the repealed farm laws “should be brought back”, reported The Indian Express.
“I understand it may become controversial, but I think these farmer-welfare-oriented laws should return,” she said. “Farmers should demand these laws themselves. Just as farmers in other regions are benefiting, there should be no obstacles to their development.”
On Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that Ranaut’s remarks are her “personal statements”.
The Mandi MP is not “authorised to make such a statement on behalf of BJP and it doesn’t depict BJP's view on the farm bills”, said Bhatia.
Responding to Bhatia’s statement, Ranaut said in a social media post that the remarks on the farm laws were her personal views and not the BJP’s stand.
In a video posted on her social media account, Ranaut expressed regret for making the comment. “I must remember that I’m no longer only an artist, but a worker of the BJP and that my opinions cannot be my own but those of the party,” she said.
In 2020, the Centre introduced three new farm laws claiming they would enhance farmers’ access to markets and boost production through private investment.
The laws were repealed in November 2021 after more than a year of protests by farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh who held sit-in agitations at Delhi’s borders. They claimed the laws would make them vulnerable to corporate exploitation and dismantle the minimum support price regime.
After Ranaut’s remarks on Monday, farmer union leaders, along with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, criticized her and demanded accountability from the BJP.
“Kangana is trying to provoke the farmers,” Darshan Pal, the national coordination committee member of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “I think she is just trying to gain undue attention as her movie is set to release this week.”
Pal said that Ranaut does not know about the farmers’ struggles, “nor does she understand the side effects of the three contentious and now-repealed farm laws”.
Jagmohan Singh Dakaunda, the general secretary of Bharatiya Kissan Union Dakaunda, sought an explanation from Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa alleged that the BJP-led Union government “has employed Bollywood actor and Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut as a mouthpiece to advocate for the restoration of the contentious farm legislations”.
Malwinder Singh Kang, the chief spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party and MP from Anandpur Sahib, said that Ranaut had “once again targeted the farmers of Punjab”.
“I pity Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself repealed the three farm laws and expressed regret for not understanding the farmers’ sentiments,” said Kang. “Yet, this newly elected BJP MP is mocking the prime minister’s statements, let alone anyone else’s. It seems the BJP is repeatedly using her as a tool.”
The BJP leaders in poll-bound Haryana also distanced themselves from Ranaut’s remarks, reported The Print.
“She keeps saying too many things,” said Mohan Lal Badoli, the president of BJP Haryana unit. “But what she says doesn’t become the BJP’s stand.”
On August 26, the BJP said that it has neither permitted nor authorised Ranaut to make statements on policy issues on behalf of the party
The BJP’s clarification came after Ranaut claimed that the farmers’ protests could have led to “Bangladesh-like anarchy” in India.
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