Miffed with Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s statement that India got true Independence freedom 2014 and that the freedom that the country got in 1947 was “bheekh” (alms), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Mumbai police seeking registration of an FIR for sedition and other offences.
Hours after BJP leader Varun Gandhi slammed the actress that Kangana had “insulted” the memory of India’s freedom fighter, AAP’s national executive member Preeti Sharma Menon lodged a complaint with the police against Kangana for her allegedly seditious comments. “Submitted an application to @MumbaiPolice requesting action on Kangana Ranaut for her seditious and inflammatory statements on @TimesNow, under sections 504, 505 and 124A (of IPC) Hope to see some action @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra” Preeti tweeted.
Simultaneously, she requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to intervene and take up the matter with the Centre for withdrawal of “Padma Shri” awarded to Kangana in view of her “seditious” public comments made in an interview at the “Times Now Summit-2021” “Celebrating India@75, shaping India@100”, which was telecast from 7 pm to 9 pm on October 10,2021.
Preeti quoted Kangana as having claimed during the “Times Now” interview that India did not achieve Independence in 1947, that what India got in 1947 was “bheekh” ( woh Azaadi nahi thi, woh bheekh thi) and that the real Independence was achieved in 2014 ( when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister).
“This abdominable statement not only discredits the Indian freedom struggle & its revered leaders but it is also extremely inflammatory in its nature, and tantamount to treason. It is more infuriating that such a seditious claim was made on national television, by a recipient of one of the highest civilian awards—the Padma Shri”.
“It is unquestionable that Kangana Ranaut has hurt the sentiments of countless Indians, by demeaning the millions of lives laid down for our nation to attain freedom, and that her claim subverts the spirit which the prestigious Padma Shri embodies,” she stated.
“As a citizen of this state, I request you to please apply to the Central government to recall the Padma Shri bestowed upon Kangana Ranaut in the light of a seditious statement made by her on national television,” the AAP leader added.
In her complaint lodged with the police, Preeti has rooted for booking Kangana for alleged offences under sections 504 (Intentional Insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 124A (Sedition) of Indian Penal Code.
Earlier in the day, BJP leader Varun Gandhi came down heavily on Kangana through a tweet that he put out in Hindi: "Insulting the sacrifice of Mahatma Gandhi sometimes, praising his killer sometimes, and now the disdain for the sacrifices of Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmibai, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and lakhs of freedom fighters. Should I call this thinking madness or treason?”.