‘Choose your heroes wisely’: Kangana Ranaut targets Mahatma Gandhi, mocks ‘offer another cheek’ remark

Last week, the 'Manikarnika' actress had said that the Independence that India got in 1947 was 'bheek' (alms) and the country got its real Independence after 2014.

Just days after her controversial remarks on India’s Independence, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has now targeted Mahatma Gandhi, saying that Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh got no support from the former. She went on to mock his mantra of ahimsa by saying that offering another cheek gets you “bheek” not freedom.

Last week, the ‘Manikarnika’ actress had said that the Independence that India got in 1947 was ‘bheek’ (alms) and the country got its real Independence after 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government came to power.

Now, in a series of posts on Instagram, Ranaut shared an old news clipping headlined “Gandhi, others had agreed to hand over Netaji”. She captioned her Insta story as “Either you are a Gandhi fan or Netaji supporter. You can’t be both, choose and decide.”

The report claimed that Gandhi, along with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, came to an agreement with a British judge that they would hand Bose over if he were to enter the country.

In another post, Ranaut, who has courted many a controversy with her incendiary and provocative statements, then claimed, “Those who fought for the freedom were ‘handed over’ to their masters by those who had no courage burning/ boiling hot blood to fight their oppressors but they were power hungry and cunning.” She then went on to target Gandhi, even claiming that there was evidence suggesting he wanted Bhagat Singh to be hanged.

Ranaut’s “azaadi” statement at an event organised by a news channel last week came two days after she was presented the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind.

She has been under attack ever since with politicians from across the spectrum, historians, academics, fellow actors and others lashing out at her for views and many saying she should return her award.

On Monday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar trashed Ranaut’s statement, saying that such comments are only made for “publicity”.

“How can anyone publish this? We should not even take notice of it. Should we even pay attention to it? One should not give importance to such statements. In fact, it should be made fun of,” Kumar said.