BJP MP Kangana Ranaut hit back at the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president and former MP Simranjit Singh Mann on Thursday, following his derogatory remarks. Mann was reacting to the recent controversy surrounding Ranaut’s comments on the farmers’ protest.
The 79-year-old politician made the disparaging remarks, mentioning “rape”, when a reporter asked for his comment on the Mandi MP’s remark.
Posting the clip of Mann’s interview, the actor-turned-politician said this country will never stop trivialising rape.
Taking to microblogging website X (formerly Twitter), Ranaut said, “It seems this country will never stop trivialising rape, today this senior politician compared getting raped to riding a bicycle.”
She also said rapes and violence against women is “deep rooted in the psyche of this patriarchal nation”.
“No wonder rapes and violence against women for fun, is so deep rooted in the psyche of this patriarchal nation that it is casually used to tease or mock a women even if she is a high profile filmmaker or politician,” she added.
The Mandi MP had stoked a controversy recently by suggesting that the farmers’ protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like crisis in the country if the leadership was not strong enough.
After Ranaut’s statement, the BJP also distanced itself from the statement and asked her to refrain from giving such statements in the future.
She had alleged that bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place during the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed agri laws.
‘Insult to our daughters’
Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson Renu Bhatia also condemned Mann’s comments. Giving such a statement is an “insult to our daughters”, she said.
Mann, a former Indian Police Service official who has been a proponent of Khalistan, was in Karnal to attend a party event.
The Haryana Assembly polls are being held on October 1.
Mann resigned from the IPS in 1984 following Operation Bluestar at Amritsar’s Golden Temple to flush out militants hiding in the complex.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tarn Taran in 1989, Sangrur in 1999 and from the same constituency again in a 2022 bypoll.
