New Delhi: Actor-turned-MP, Kangana Ranaut, on Wednesday stirred a new controversy with her post on social media regarding Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. On his birth anniversary, the BJP MP downplayed the stature of Mahatma Gandhi as the “Father of the Nation.”
The actor paid homage to Shastri on his 120th birth anniversary on Wednesday and shared a controversial post on Instagram.
“Desh ke pita nahi, desh ke to lal hote hai. Dhanye hai Bharat Maa ke ye lal (The country does not have fathers; it has sons. Blessed are these sons of Mother India),” she wrote on her Instagram Stories.
The actor also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for carrying forward Gandhi’s legacy of maintaining cleanliness in the country.
The post on Shastri and Gandhi has led to yet another row for Ranaut, who had previously faced backlash for her comments on the farmers’ protests.
‘Politics not her field…’
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate criticised her for her “lewd remark” at 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,” Shrinate wrote in a post on X.
Manoranjan Kalia, a senior BJP leader from Punjab, also criticised Ranaut.
“I condemn Kangana Ranaut’s comments made on Gandhi ji’s 155th birth anniversary,” Kalia said in a video posted on social media, adding that Ranaut, in her short political career, has developed a habit of making controversial remarks.
“Politics is not her field. Politics is a serious affair,” he added.