Delhi Mahila Congress chief slams Kangana Ranaut for 'Independence was 'bheek' remark, demands FIR against actor

New Delhi: Delhi Mahila Congress chief Amrrita Dhawan on Saturday wrote to the Delhi Police chief seeking registration of an FIR against actor Kangana Ranaut for her remarks that what India achieved in 1947 was “bheek” (alms), saying she “insulted and showed her disrespect” to freedom fighters. The actor has stoked a controversy after she at an event called India’s Independence in 1947, not freedom but “bheek” (alms), adding that India “got real freedom in 2014”, a reference to the BJP coming to power at the Centre. In a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, Dhawan said, “She (Ranaut) publicly insulted and showed her disrespect to all our freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during freedom movement. We could never forget the sacrifices of our freedom movement and the millions of lives lost and families destroyed.” The Congress’ women wing leader also sought an appointment with the Delhi Police chief. She requested the commissioner to immediately lodge an FIR against Ranaut under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), /505 (public mischief) and 124A (sedition) of the IPC and other relevant sections of law and initiate proper criminal proceedings before the competent court. Dhawan also accused Ranaut of making derogatory remarks against “great leaders” of the Congress party when she said: “If we get freedom as a “bheek”, is it even freedom? What the British left behind in the name of Congress….They were the extension of the British.” “Sometimes an insult to the sacrifice and penance of Mahatma Gandhi, sometimes showing respect to his killer and now this disdain for the sacrifice of millions of freedom fighters from…Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Azad, Pandit Nehru, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, the golden trio Lal-Bal-Pal, Sarojini Naidu, and others must be taken into consideration while lodging FIR” against Ranaut, she said. Politicians across the spectrum, including BJP Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, have criticised Ranaut for her statement.