“What we got in 1947 wasn’t freedom, those were alms. We got real freedom in 2014,” Kangana Ranaut is heard saying in a viral video clip.
Controversy’s favourite child- bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut- has done it again! The actress was attending the Times Now Summit 2021 where she spoke about the freedom struggle and the British Raj in response to one of the questions by the host. Ms Ranaut, who is often seen openly supporting the Modi regime, faced trolling and anger by social media users over her comments.
“Not real freedom”
Speaking at a session during Times Now Summit, hosted by the channels prime time anchor Navika Kumar, Kangana Ranaut said: “Woh azaadi nahi thi, woh bheek thi. Aur jo azaadi mili hai woh 2014 mai mili hai (That wasn’t freedom, those were alms. We got real freedom in 2014.)”
The actress meant that the freedom India got in 1947 was not freedom, but those were alms. She also tried to imply that India got real freedom after Modi government came to power in 2014.
लकड़ी के घोड़े पर प्लास्टिक की तलवार लेकर वीरांगना बनने वाली सरकारी चाटुकार आजादी के सिपाहियों का अपमान कर रही है। हज़ारों कुर्बानियों के नतीजे को भीख बता रही है। pic.twitter.com/gH4JbOd4l9
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹 (@RoflGandhi_) November 10, 2021
“British were acutely aware that blood will flow but they decided whose blood will flow. It should not be their blood. And for that, they needed some people who could help them so that Indian blood flows but not theirs. These are the people who are labelled as liberals or the Congress. When you got conquered after a fight, how can you get independence as ‘bheekh’,” Ms Ranaut said.
“Secular is no man’s land. What British left behind in the name of Congress was the extension of the British,” Kangana said.
Angry reactions
A video of the comments made by Kangana is now viral on social media and many prominent people have criticised her comments.
BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday, tweeting the viral video of Ms Ranaut exclaimed whether he should call such mentality ‘madness’ or ‘treason’.
“Sometimes an insult to the sacrifice and penance of Mahatma Gandhi, sometimes the respect of his killer, and now the disdain for the sacrifices of millions of freedom fighters from Shaheed Mangal Pandey to Rani Laxmibai, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and more. Should I call this thinking madness or treason?” the disgruntled BJP leader asked.
कभी महात्मा गांधी जी के त्याग और तपस्या का अपमान, कभी उनके हत्यारे का सम्मान, और अब शहीद मंगल पाण्डेय से लेकर रानी लक्ष्मीबाई, भगत सिंह, चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद, नेताजी सुभाष चंद्र बोस और लाखों स्वतंत्रता सेनानियों की कुर्बानियों का तिरस्कार।
इस सोच को मैं पागलपन कहूँ या फिर देशद्रोह? pic.twitter.com/Gxb3xXMi2Z
— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) November 11, 2021
Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon went to the extent of submitting an application to the Mumbai police, requesting them take action against the actress for her remarks.
History of outlandish & false remarks
However, this is not the first time that Kangana Ranaut has been at the receiving end of criticism and trolling for her comments.
Earlier this year, the actress faced hostile reactions after she stopped short of openly glorifying Nathuram Godse on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Godse was the assassin who killed Gandhi.
“Every story has three sides to it, yours, mine and the truth …. A good story teller neither commits nor conceals… and that’s why our text books suck … full of exposition. #NathuramGodse,” the actress tweeted with a picture of Gandhi’s assassin.
Late last year, Kangana had tweeted a criticism of Gandhi in a post purporting to praise Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the occasion of Patel’s 145th birth anniversary. Claiming that Gandhi wanted a “weaker mind” to serve as Prime Minister, opting for Jawaharlal Nehru instead of Patel, Ranaut tweeted, “He sacrificed his most deserving and elected position as the First Prime Minister of India just to please Gandhi because he felt Nehru spoke better English, #SardarVallabhbhaiPatel did not suffer but Nation suffered for decades, we must shamelessly snatch what is rightfully ours.”
“He is the real Iron Man of India, I do believe Gandhi ji wanted a weaker mind like Nehru that he could control and run the nation by keeping him in the forefront, that was a good plan but what happened after Gandhi got killed was a big disaster #SardarVallabhbhaiPatel,” she tweeted.
Her Twitter outbursts continued to garner attention, mostly for all the wrong reasons. Her spat with Maharashtra government got uglier and led to even partial demolition of her property by the BMC. Since then, there has been no looking back for the actress from Himachal Pradesh. She has continued to bat for the ruling BJP and its ideology.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials carry out demolition at Kangana Ranaut’s office in Mumbai.
Some of her tweets were taken down Twitter early this year after she called protesting farmers “terrorists”
The Queen star’s account was suspended briefly on Twitter in the past after she appeared to call for the beheading of producers of a TV show that she believed was offensive to Hindus.
She also controversially called singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh – with whom she has had ugly and rambling exchanges on Twitter — a ‘Khalistani’.
However, in May 2020, Twitter took cognizance of her repetitive violation of its rules and permanently suspended her account. The move came after the actor’s vitriolic comments on the post-poll violence in West Bengal, which sounded like a call to violence. Kangana’s tweets had sparked outrage, with many demanding action against her.
Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account has been suspended due to repeated violations of the the platform’s rules.
After all that she has done and said in the past few years, Kangana Ranaut was recently awarded Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Though the award was conferred upon her for her contribution to Indian cinema, many also pointed out that Kangana’s vocal support to the ruling establishment may have played role in getting her the prestigious award. It’s upto the Indian government to contemplate their decision to give such honour to someone who’s been repeatedly accused of delivering hate speech and insulting India’s freedom fighters.
Kangana and her enablers
For now, let us come back to Kangana’s recent interaction at the Times Now Summit. Anyone with a sane mind and a little knowledge of modern Indian history would tell you that what Kangana said at the event was far from the truth. However, there were few things more peculiar than Kangana’s remark. It was the response from those sitting in the audience who clapped at her outlandish claims. It was also the star anchor conducting the session who did not contest Kangana’s false claims. Navika Kumar, not once, told the actress that what she was saying was a lie, and she, in fact, was disrespecting Indian freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the independence of our country.
Actress Swara Bhaskar, pointing out the same, quote tweeted Kangana’s video and asked: “Who are the idiots who are clapping is what I want to know..”
Who are the idiots who are clapping is what I want to know.. https://t.co/LRhbGjHsxF
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) November 10, 2021
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi highlighted the fact that the host did not correct Ranaut on air.
Dear @vineetjaintimes your channel @TimesNow needs to carry an advisory that the views shared by Kangana Ranaut on India’s freedom struggle & freedom as “bikhari” are wrong & her ignorant fantasy. Specially since Navika Kumar chose not to correct her on air
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) November 11, 2021
At a time when many fear that concerted attempts are being made to alter the history of our country, such bizarre claims by someone who’s followed by millions take the concerns notch above. At a time when we have BJP officer-bearers telling on camera with confidence that we have received freedom on lease for 99 years, it’s necessary that news channels actively fact-check and correct the claims made by people appearing on their shows, either during the show or after it.
Times Now, instead of clarifying that it does not stand with the actress’ views on the freedom struggle and independence, posted a longer version of the video with an explanation. However, the explanation did not opine on what the channels views were on her disrespect towards freedom fighters and why the host did not interrupt and correct her for the comments she made.
The question asked was about Savarkar, but the response was on a different matter. Navika Kumar then followed up with a question about whether Kangana was expressing her loyalty to the BJP, and Kangana responded by saying she's a patriot. Here's the complete viral sequence. pic.twitter.com/zXwgnRBLOb
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 11, 2021
In an ideal world, Times Now would not have invited to its summit someone, who has been accused of making hate speeches, and is permanently removed from a social media platform for spreading fake news. Not only did it invite Kangana, the channel also allowed her to go scott-free without any counter questions on her bizarre claims.
The problem is not only with people like Kangana Ranaut who make outlandish claims with an agenda. The problem is with the enablers of Kangana Ranaut, who give her platform to blabber falsehood in the name of history and nationalism. Platforms like Times Now and anchors like Navika Kumar are as responsible for the downfall in country’s discourse in recent years as people like Kangana Ranaut are.
Is it not disrespectful towards our freedom fighters and the very sovereign that gave Kangana Ranaut one of the highest civilian awards, when she writes off the freedom struggle of decades and calls our independence something that we got after begging? To me, it is an utter display of shamelessness by Kangana and her enablers.
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