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Kangana insulting farmers: SKM, AAP
The BJP has expressed disagreement with Kangana Ranaut’s controversial remarks on the farmers’ protest and said she has been directed to not make such remarks in future.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body with nearly 36 peasant organisations as its constituents, on Monday, termed Mandi MP and actor Kangana Ranaut’s comments ‘derogatory and factually incorrect’.
“It is extremely painful that this MP, who is a habitual abuser of farmers, has now taken the extreme step of calling Indian farmers murderers, rapists, conspirators, and anti-national,” SKM spokesperson Jagmohan Singh said in a press statement.
The BJP on Monday also expressed disagreement with its MP’s controversial remarks on the farmers’ protest and said she has been directed to not make such remarks in future. The BJP’s reprimand came after Ranaut stoked a controversy by suggesting that the farmers’ protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation in the country if the top leadership was not strong enough. In a video shared by the Mandi MP on X, she alleged that “bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place” during the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed three farm laws.
“Despite insults and deliberate provocation, SKM has always ensured that the farmers’ protests against the anti-farmer laws remain peaceful, lawful and in accordance with the exercise of fundamental rights given in the Constitution of India, the SKM spokesperson added.
SKM also asked the MP to tender an unconditional apology to the farmers of India for her inappropriate and incorrect statements and to uphold the dignity of her office.
AAP slams BJP
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday dubbed the BJP’s reprimand to Mandi MP over her controversial statements as a ‘mere act’ ahead of the assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
Dismissing the reprimand, AAP’s senior spokesperson Neel Garg said this is not the first instance of a BJP leader making statements or indulging in actions detrimental to farmers and other people. “Ranaut and other BJP leaders often give such statements, yet the BJP keeps on rewarding them,” he alleged in a statement, calling it an “anti-farmers party.”
Garg claimed that the party’s attempt to distance itself from Ranaut’s controversial statement is motivated by the upcoming assembly elections in several states. He said that while BJP leaders frequently label farmers as terrorists and separatists, it has never taken substantial action against them. “The party’s statements are driven by the pressure of farmers’ discontent in Haryana, a key election state,” he alleged.
BJP spokesperson RP Singh in a message on micro blogging site X added that party disagrees with the comment and it works on the ideology of ‘‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas.’
