Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has been booked for allegedly making derogatory remarks, calling the Sikh community “Khalistani terrorists” and the farmers’ protest a “Khalistani” movement.
The Khalistan Movement is a Sikh separatist movement which seeks to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khalistan.
On 20 November, Kangana took to Instagram Stories, and said "Khalistani terrorists may be arm twisting the government today. But let’s not forget one woman. The only woman prime minister (Indira Gandhi) ne inn ko apni jooti ke neeche crush kiya tha (the only woman PM who crushed them under her shoes)."
Kangana lauded the late Congress leader Indira Gandhi, saying that though she caused "suffering" to the nation, she crushed 'Khalistanis' like mosquitoes at the cost of her life and didn't let the nation get divided.
This statement didn't go down well with Congress politicians and Sikh communities including the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) who sparked an uproar on social media.
DSGMC and SAD have also filed several police complaints across Delhi, Mumbai and other cities across India against the actress for allegedly making seditious remarks.
The DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa took to Twitter and said that the delegation of the Sikh committee has filed a police complaint against the actress in Mumbai city on Monday.
The representatives of the two organisations have also met Mumbai's Additional Commissioner of Police and Maharashtra state's Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil to demand her arrest and seek legal action against her for her “communally provocative and derogatory” social media post.
"If she (Kangana) is mentally unstable, then she should be sent to a mental hospital or if she is deliberately spreading hatred, she should be sent to jail. We seek justice in this case and that's why we have come here (Mumbai)," Sirsa said in the video posted on Twitter.
Sirsa said that her tweets represent farmers’ protests as anti-national.
"We ask for an unconditional apology from her for her callous comments on the farmers' protest,” Sirsa said.
In an apparent reference to the situation, Kangana put up a bold picture on her Instagram stories on Wednesday, adding the caption "Another day, another FIR... just in case they come to arrest, mood at home".
On Sunday, the DSGMC wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind appealing for the withdrawal of Kangana's recently-awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, from her.
“She is deliberately provoking Sikhs with indecent references to the 1984 Sikh genocide,” the letter stated.