MUMBAI, Nov 12: The BJP has snubbed the Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for her remarks that India was given freedom in 1947 as “alms” (bheekh) and that India earned the real freedom in 2014 when the BJP came to power and Narendra Modi became the prime minister.
The Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Friday said Ranaut’s comment was “completely wrong.” Kangana Ranaut’s “comment on the country’s fight for Independence is completely wrong. Nobody has a right to pass a negative remark on the freedom movement,” Patil told reporters, though he added he did not know the “emotions” that made the actor utter such a statement.
The actor is in the eye of a storm and is being criticised from several quarters after stating at an event recently that India truly gained freedom in 2014, a reference to the BJP coming to power at the Centre. She had been known for strong pro-BJP stance though she is not a member of any political party.
“After Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, the common man is having an experience of true freedom. Now, there is no one left in the country who cannot have two meals a day. The Union government is distributing 35 kg food grains to the poor at ₹ 105,” Patil claimed. “Ms Ranaut can appreciate PM Modi’s work over the last seven years but she has no right to criticise the Independence struggle, Patil said.
(Manas Dasgupta)