Legal action is being taken against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for making defamatory remarks against Indian freedom struggle icon Mahatma Gandhi, Maharashtra State Congress chief Nana Patole said on Wednesday, adding that the party will register an official complaint against her with the city police.
Regarded as the "Father of the Nation" in the country, Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of India's non-violent independence movement against British rule.
Kangana on Tuesday took a swipe at Gandhi and said freedom fighters Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh got no support from him. She even claimed that there was evidence suggesting Gandhi wanted Singh to be hanged.
She went on to poke fun at Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence.
"Those are the ones who taught us, 'If someone slaps you offer another cheek for one more slap' and that is how you will get Aazadi (freedom). That's not how one gets Aazadi (freedom), one can only get bheekh like that. Choose your heroes wisely," the 34-year-old actress said on her Instagram story.
Kangana also said that freedom fighters were "handed over" to the British by those "who had no courage" to fight oppression but were "power-hungry" and "cunning."
She shared an old newspaper article from the 1940s with the headline, "Gandhi, others had agreed to hand over Netaji (Subhas Chandra Bose)" and wrote, "Either you are a Gandhi fan or Netaji supporter. You can't be both, choose and decide."
Urging her fans to “choose your heroes wisely," Kangana said it's about time people know their history and their heroes.
"Because just placing them all [political leaders] in one box of your memory and every year wishing them all birth anniversaries is not enough in fact it's not just dumb but highly irresponsible and superficial…," she added.
During a TV interview with Times Now last week, Kangana claimed that India attained its real independence in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
In 2014, the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a thumping victory in the general elections throwing Congress – the party of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his descendants – out of office.
Several politicians have called out the actress for insulting India and the freedom fighters and wrote to the Mumbai Police demanding a case be filed against her.
In the past, Kangana has sparked several controversies for being outspoken on social media about a number of issues such as the sudden suicide of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, nepotism in the film industry, the ongoing farmer protests in India, drugs, and much more.