Delhi assembly committee summons Kangana Ranaut for remarks about Sikhs

The Delhi assembly’s committee for peace and harmony sent a notice to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut on Thursday and asked her to appear before it at noon on December 6

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been summoned by the Delhi assembly’s committee for peace and harmony for allegedly posting hate speech on her social media account, which the panel claimed has hurt the religious sentiments of the Capital’s Sikh community.

A file photo of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut in Mumbai. She has been summoned by a Delhi assembly panel over alleged hate speech. (AFP)

The committee sent a summons notice to Ranaut on Thursday and asked her to appear before it at noon on December 6.

“…the committee has received numerous complaints eliciting inter alia, outrageously offensive and derogatory Instagram stories/posts allegedly published by yourself on 20.11.2021 on your official Instagram account against the Sikh community by blanketly labelling them as ‘Khalistani terrorists’ through purportedly deliberate references and imputations made in the said stories/posts, thus depicting the entire Sikh community in a very bad light, which as per complaints, has the potential to engender disharmony as well as cause wounding humiliation to the entire Sikh community,” read the notice issued by Sadanand Sah, deputy secretary of the committee.

HT has a copy of the notice.

New Delhi is home to at least 800,000 Sikh voters, according to electoral data.

Raghav Chadha, chairperson of the peace panel and an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from the Rajendra Nagar constituency, said Ranaut’s posts have “caused immense agony, distress and gravely hurt” the religious sentiments of people from the Sikh community.

He said such posts have the potential to disrupt peace and harmony in New Delhi.

Last week, the Bollywood actor took to Instagram to share a picture of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, saying that she “crushed Khalistanis like mosquitoes” even at the “cost of her life”. In the post, Ranaut praised the former PM for what she called “decisive action”.

Ranaut was awarded with the Padma Shri earlier this month. She also recently won a national award for best actress for her performances in the films Panga and Manikarnika.

The Delhi assembly committee said it is empowered to consider matters that have the potential to disrupt communal harmony in the Capital and suggest corrective measures.

“The same has been acknowledged and endorsed by the Supreme Court as it has upheld the inquisitorial and recommendatory powers of the committee, which can be utilised under the principle of better governance,” the panel said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee (DGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Supreme Council Navi Mumbai Gurudwara president Jaspalsingh Siddhu, and Amarjeet Singh Sandhu of Dadar’s Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara initiated the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) against Ranaut.

On Wednesday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said that Y plus security provided to Ranaut by the Centre doesn’t insulate her from the ambit of law.

“The Sikh community has filed an FIR against Kangana Ranaut, which is very relevant as she is habituated to insulting great leaders. No one is above law… security provided to her from the Centre cannot help her,” Malik said.

Last week, the peace panel had sought clarifications from Facebook India with regard to steps taken by the social media giant over inflammatory content and fake news.