Gurugram: BJP’s Mandi MP and actor Kangana Ranaut has landed the party in a soup in poll-bound Haryana, alleging in an interview that during the farmers’ agitation of 2020-2021, “bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place” and that there was a “plan to create a Bangladesh-like situation in India”.
She also suggested that “foreign powers, China, America” were behind the protests.
As her remarks in the interview with Dainik Bhaskar triggered a political storm, the BJP wasted no time in initiating damage control and distanced itself from her views.
In a statement issued Monday by its media department in Delhi, the party, which is in power at the Centre and in Haryana, said Kangana’s remarks in the context of the farmers’ agitation were “not the opinion of the party” and that it expresses “disagreement” with them.
“Kangana Ranaut is neither permitted nor authorised to make statements on the party’s policy issues… Ranaut has been directed not to make any such statements in future,” the BJP stated, adding that it was determined to follow its principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas” and social harmony.
The central BJP’s intervention came after Haryana BJP leaders were learnt to have approached the party high command to apprise them about the damage her remarks against farmers could cause to the party in the October assembly election.
Multiple BJP leaders ThePrint spoke to said they were concerned about the fallout of Ranaut’s remarks.
A clip from the interview, meant to promote Kangana’s upcoming film Emergency, was shared up on X Sunday and reposted by the actor herself.
In it, she can be heard saying: “What happened in Bangladesh could well have happened here in India. Had our top leadership not been strong, when the farmers held protests here (outskirts of Delhi), bodies were hanging there and rapes were taking place. And, when the farmer-friendly bills were taken back, the entire country was shocked. But those farmers are still sitting on a dharna… they had never thought that the government would withdraw the bills. They had come up with a very long plan, like the one witnessed in Bangladesh.”
She then adds: “Do you think this plan was by farmers? No. China. America. Foreign forces like these are working here in our country.”
The now-scrapped farm laws had sparked widespread protests across northern India, with Punjab and Haryana being the major centres of the agitation. The protests were carried out under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha.
Several senior BJP leaders from Haryana admitted that the actor’s words had landed them in a difficult spot ahead of the assembly elections.
One state leader, requesting anonymity, told ThePrint that most party leaders, particularly those in the fray in rural constituencies, were worried.
“Elections are all about the building of narratives. Farmers’ protests were a big issue for our party when the Lok Sabha elections began. Many of our leaders, including former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, were stopped by farmers from visiting villages.
“However, the protests subsided as the elections progressed and we thought this subject wouldn’t be that problematic this time. However, Kangana has given an issue to the Opposition just ahead of the elections. All we can do now is to wait and watch how much leverage the opposition can get from this,” the BJP leader said.
Congress slams BJP & Haryana BJP’s advice for Kangana
The opposition Congress was quick to target the BJP over Kangana’s remarks.
In a post on X Monday, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala wished Kangana would “get well soon” and posed a few questions to the BJP.
“Why do BJP people have so much hatred for the country’s annadatas (food providers)? The BJP has always subjected our farmers to lies, deceit, conspiracies, and atrocities. And once again, a BJP MP has made baseless accusations against our farmers,” he wrote.
Adding, “The question is… Did Kangana make these vile accusations against farmers as part of the BJP’s electoral strategy?”
Get well soon Kangana!
आखिर भाजपा वालों को देश के अन्नदाता से इतनी नफरत क्यों है ?
भाजपा ने तो हमेशा हमारे अन्नदाताओं पर झूठ,फरेब, साजिश और अत्याचार किया है।
और एक बार फिर हमारे अन्नदाताओं पर बीजेपी की सांसद ने अनर्गल आरोप लगाया है।
सवाल ये है कि..
क्या कंगना ने बीजेपी की… pic.twitter.com/hkUQXUFOch
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 26, 2024
Supriya Shrinate, chairperson, social Media & digital platforms of the Congress, also condemned Kangana’s comments and demanded an apology. “Kangana Ranaut yesterday called the country’s farmers murderers and rapists. She also claimed that the US and China were attempting to create instability in the country by instigating the farmers’ protests. The BJP cannot wash its hands of this,” she wrote on X Monday.
कंगना रनौत ने कल देश के किसानों को हत्यारा और बलात्कारी कहा. ये भी कहा कि अमेरिका और चीन देश में किसान आंदोलन करवाकर अस्थिरता फैलाने की कोशिश कर रहे थे
BJP पलड़ा नहीं झाड़ सकती
• अगर आपको अपनी सांसद कंगना की बात से आपत्ति है, तो उन्हें पार्टी से बाहर कीजिए
• कंगना को कहिए… pic.twitter.com/1gzk4pvSTL
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) August 26, 2024
Speaking to ThePrint, a second senior BJP leader from Haryana said the party needed to ask Kangana to stop talking about issues outside her domain. “One can be very good in a particular field but that doesn’t mean that the person will be equally good in other fields too. It took us years to learn what to speak and what not to speak. She too needs to learn a lot before she gives her opinion on matters that impact the party’s prospects,” he said.
“She’s not even a kisan leader, a national spokesperson or from Haryana, so it is clearly not her place to make such statements. It gives fodder to the Opposition, which is already targeting the party on the wrestlers’ issue and the Agnipath scheme,” said another BJP functionary.
During the Lok Sabha elections, concerned about her controversial remarks, the BJP had given Kangana strict instructions to stick to one-line statements and asked her to focus and speak about issues related to the work of the Modi government and women empowerment.
Senior leaders were even tasked with accompanying her during programmes in a bid to avoid controversy.
Speaking to ThePrint, Haryana BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma argued that Kangana’s comments had not been understood in the right context.
In 2021, a 26-year-old activist from West Bengal was allegedly raped on the Tikri protest site. She died of Covid a few weeks later, and an FIR of gangrape was registered against six persons on the complaint of her father.
In another incident in October 2021, a man was lynched, allegedly by a group of Nihangs, and tied to the police barricade at the Singhu border where he bled to death.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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