'Desh Ke Pita Nahi...': Actor-MP Kangana Ranaut Sparks Row With Fresh Remarks On Gandhi Jayanti

BJP Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut sparked a controversy on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti with an Instagram post about Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Kangana faced criticism for her comments on the farmers' protests, now, paid tribute to Shastri on his 120th birth anniversary with a post that seemed to downplay Gandhi's status as the Father of the Nation.

"Desh ke pita nahi, desh ke to lal hote hai. Dhanye hai Bharat ma ke ye lal ('The country does not have fathers; it has sons. Blessed are these sons of Mother India)" she wrote on her Instagram Stories.

In a follow-up post, she praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continuing Gandhi's legacy of cleanliness in the country. 

The post about Shastri and Gandhi has sparked another controversy for the BJP MP from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, as Congress leader Supriya Shrinate criticised Ranaut for her "lewd jibe" at Gandhi.

"BJP MP Kangana made this lewd jibe on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary. Godse worshippers draw distinctions between Bapu and Shastri ji. Will Narendra Modi wholeheartedly forgive his party's new Godse devotee? There is the Father of the Nation, there are sons, and there are martyrs. Everyone deserves respect," Shrinate said in a post on X.

(With PTI Inputs)