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'Not worthy to comment on Mahatma Gandhi': Maharashtra leader on row over Kangana's 'alm' remarks
Ranaut who is often a subject of headline for her controversial statements, on Tuesday stirred another controversy after she mocked Gandhi for his non-violence views and said, offering another cheek gets you "bheekh" (alms) not freedom.
Maharashtra minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Wednesday made a remark against Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut for her comments on the freedom of India against British rule. "She is not worthy to comment on Mahatma Gandhi," said Wadettiwar, adding, she is a "nachaniya" (dancer) and "considered one of the most controversial people" in the country, according to news agency ANI. "Her comment on Mahatma Gandhi is like spitting on the sun. If you spit at the sun, the spit falls back on you," he also said.
Ranaut who is often a subject of headline for her controversial statements, on Tuesday stirred another controversy after she mocked Gandhi for his non-violence views and said, offering another cheek gets you "bheekh" (alms) not freedom.
The comments followed the ongoing row over her similar remarks from previous week when she said that the country got real freedom in 2014 when Narendra Modi of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected as the prime minister of the country. What India got in 1947 was "bheekh" (alm), she had said at a summit last week.
On Tuesday, Ranaut shared an old newspaper article and wrote, “Either you are a Gandhi fan or Netaji supporter. You can't be both, choose and decide.” The newspaper had an old article from the 1940s with the headline, "Gandhi, others agreed to hand over Netaji."
Freedom fighters were "handed over" to the British by those "who had no courage" to fight oppression but were "power-hungry" and "cunning," she also wrote in her following story. "Those are the ones who taught us that if someone slaps, you offer another cheek for one more slap and that is how you will get azadi (freedom). That's not how one gets azadi, one can only get bheekh (alm) like that," she added.
Tuesday's post came as an indication that she stands by her earlier statement, despite drawing countrywide flak from various politicians and others.
Many have even demanded that the Centre take back Kangana's Padma Shri honour for insulting the country's Independence movement and the freedom fighters. Kangana had received the prestigious award from President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the capital on November 8.
