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AN OBJECTIONABLE remark purportedly made by senior Congress leader Supriya Shrinate about actor Kangana Ranaut, who has been named by the BJP as its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, triggered a political controversy on Monday, with the ruling party attacking the Congress and demanding that she be sacked as the party’s social and digital media head.
The comment in Hindi, featuring a photograph of Ranaut, was posted from Shrinate’s Instagram account. “Kya bhav chal raha hai Mandi main koi batayega (can someone say what is the going rate in Mandi),” it said, in a denigrating reference to the actor and her constituency.
Denying her involvement, Shrinate claimed it was posted by somebody who had access to her accounts. “The mischief was started by somebody who runs a parody account in my name on Twitter (X) and I have no clue who this person is. The moment it was brought to my notice, I reported that account to Twitter (X). Somebody who had access to my Meta accounts posted that objectionable content there and I obviously immediately deleted it,” Shrinate told The Indian Express.
She also posted on ‘X’: “Someone who had access to my Meta accounts (FB and Insta) posted an absolutely disgusting and objectionable post, which has been taken down. Anyone who knows me will know I would never say that for a woman. However, a parody account that I have just discovered misusing my name is being run on Twitter (@Supriyaparody) which started the whole mischief, and is being reported.”
While the BJP hit out at Shrinate and the Congress, Ranaut responded by saying that “every woman deserves her dignity.”
“Dear Supriya ji. In the last 20 years of my career as an artist, I have played all kinds of women. From a naive girl in Queen to a seductive spy in Dhaakad, from a goddess in Manikarnika to a demon in Chandramukhi, from a prostitute in Rajjo to a revolutionary leader in Thalaivii. We must free our daughters from the shackles of prejudices, we must rise above the curiosity about their body parts and above all we must refrain from using sex workers’ challenging lives or circumstances as some kind of abuse or slur… every woman deserves her dignity,” she said in a post on ‘X’.
Sharing a screengrab of other crude, objectionable posts on social media, Ranaut added: “If a young man gets ticket, his ideology is attacked. If a young woman gets ticket, her sexuality is attacked. Strange!! Also Congress people are sexualising a small town’s name. Mandi is being used in sexual context everywhere, just because it has a young woman candidate. Shame on Congress people for displaying sexist tendencies.”
Targeting the Congress, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said: “This is beyond disgusting. The comments by Supriya Shrinate on Kangana Ranaut are despicable. Should be immediately sacked. Will Priyanka Gandhi speak up? Will Kharge ji sack her? Where is the ‘Hathras’ lobby now? First they justified Sandeshkhali, then Lal Singh got a ticket from Congress, and now this.”
“Congress’s Supriya Shrinate makes an obnoxious comment on Kangana Ranaut in an Insta post. It is so disgusting that one can’t help but ask how does Congress collect so much filth in one place? If Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge has any say in the party, he must sack her immediately or else resign,” said Amit Malviya, BJP leader in charge of the party’s national information and technology department.
Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani also posted on ‘X’: “This initiation into politics by fire @KanganaTeam is not a reflection on who you are but on what they have done & are capable of continuing to do for they can’t fathom how to deal with women of steel. March onto victory. Vijayi Bhavi.”
