Simranjit Singh Mann. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The controversy around Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and actor Kangana Ranaut’s remarks on the farmers’ agitation took an unseemly turn on Thursday (August 29, 2024), with objectionable remarks made against her by former MP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Amritsar president Simranjit Singh Mann, even as the actor and Mandi MP met BJP president J.P. Nadda at his residence here on Thursday.
Mr. Mann, 79, made the disparaging remarks when a reporter in Karnal asked him to comment on an interview given by Ms. Ranaut. He said that Ms. Ranaut could comment on “rapes” as she had knowledge of the crime.
Ms. Ranaut had recently posted a clip from an interview to a media house in which she had suggested that a “Bangladesh-like situation” could have erupted in India during the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws (later rolled back) but for the country’s strong leadership. She alleged that “bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place during the farmers’ protest”. She had also alleged the involvement of China and the U.S. in the “conspiracy”. Ms. Ranaut’s comments had drawn criticism from all quarters, including the Opposition Congress and farmers’ union Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The BJP had then released a statement distancing itself from Ms. Ranaut’s remarks, adding that she was not authorised to speak on policy issues either.
This is the second time that Ranaut has met the BJP president since her comments on the farmers’ agitation. Mr. Nadda’s meeting with Ms. Ranaut was in the way of reiterating the BJP’s view on such remarks, and to ensure that the reprimand would be taken as such and party discipline maintained.
Mr. Mann’s statement, however, has added fuel to the controversy, with Ms. Ranaut reacting sharply to the objectionable comment.
“It seems this country will never stop trivialising rape,” she posted on social media platform X. “No wonder rapes and violence against women are so deep-rooted in the psyche of this patriarchal nation that they are used to mock even high-profile film makers and politicians,” she added.
Haryana State Commission for Women Chairperson Renu Bhatia also condemned Mr. Mann’s comments. Such a statement is an “insult to our daughters”, she said.
Mr. Mann, a former Indian Police Service official who has been a proponent of Khalistan, was in Karnal to attend a party event, with Assembly election in Haryana due on October 1.
(With inputs from the PTI.)
