'People of Mandi made a mistake in electing her': Kangana Ranaut faces flak from BJP leaders on Gandhi Jayanti post

Actor-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kangana Ranaut is facing flak from her own party leaders for her recent social media post on Gandhi Jayanti, which stirred a hornet's nest. Ranaut was accused of downplaying the stature of Mahatma Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. 

On Wednesday, Ranaut said in one of her Instagram Stories: "Desh ke pita nahi, desh ke to laal hote hai. Dhanya hai Bharat maa ke ye laal (The country does not have fathers, it has sons. Blessed are these sons of Mother India)."

October 2 is the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as well as former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Many BJP leaders, however, are not happy with Ranaut's recent social media post on Gandhi and Shastri.

Harjeet Singh Grewal, senior BJP leader from Punjab, said that the people of Mandi made a mistake by electing the actor-politician as their MP. He alleged that Ranaut is articulating the ideology of Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse. 

"Kangana is articulating the ideology of Nathuram Godse and it looks like people of Mandi constituency have made a mistake in electing her. She has not paid respects to Gandhi but she is paying homage to Shastri," Grewal told ThePrint.

The senior BJP leader said that Ranaut should know that Shastri was among the biggest followers of the Mahatma's ideology. "If she is worshipping his (Gandhi's) pupil but humiliating the guru, this shows her ideology and intelligence."

While advising Ranaut to avoid speaking on every subject, Grewal mentioned that the entire country is indebted towards the Mahatma for his contribution to the Indian freedom struggle.

He added, "I pray to God to give her some intelligence." Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu also chimed in. While quoting Gandhi, Bittu told reporters: "Bapu said that if you hear a bad thing, close your ears." The Congress also attacked Ranaut for her post, with party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would forgive the Mandi MP. 

This, however, is not the first time that Kangana Ranaut has put the BJP in a spot. In August, she claimed in an interview that during 2020-21 farmers' agitation, "bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place." 

Ranaut also came under fire when she demanded to bring back the farm laws that the Centre repealed in 2021 after the farmers' protests. The BJP had to distance itself from this statement, given the assembly elections in Haryana.