Television news channel Times Now issued a statement on Friday, November 12, distancing itself from the controversial remarks made by Kangana Ranaut about the freedom struggle in India during an event organised by the channel. Kangana had claimed that India attained freedom in 2014 and what it got in 1947 was "alms." Her remarks had created a furore on social media, and AAP had also written to Mumbai police asking that a complaint be filed against her.
Times Now, in a statement put out on its Twitter handle, said: “#KanganaRanaut may think India got Independence in 2014 but this cannot be endorsed by any true Indian. This is an insult to millions of freedom fighters who gave up their lives so that present generations can live a life of self-respect & dignity as free citizens of a democracy.”
In a 24-second clip that had gone viral on social media, Ranaut had said India's Independence in 1947 was not freedom but "bheek" (alms). "And we got real freedom in 2014," she said at the event organised by a new channel with some people in the audience heard clapping. Ranaut, who was recently given the Padma Shri, was apparently referring to the BJP coming to power in 2014.
The actor is known for provocative and often inflammatory statements and was even suspended from Twitter for her previous remarks.
BJP's Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi shared a video of Ranaut's remarks on his Twitter handle and slammed her. "It is an anti-national act and must be called out as such. To not do so would be a betrayal of all those who shed blood so that today we may stand tall and free as a nation," Gandhi said in his tweet in Hindi.
The Aam Aadmi Party submitted an application to the Mumbai Police on Thursday, demanding that a case be registered against the film actor. AAP's national executive member Preeti Sharma Menon termed the remarks “seditious and inflammatory."
With PTI inputs