By Venkatesh Raghavan
Mumbai: Actress Kangana Ranaut after getting a boost from the judiciary that proclaimed the partial demolition of her residence as an illegal act on part of the civic body, late last week, has got embroiled in a new controversy pertaining to sharp reactions pouring in from Himanshi Khurana whose claim to fame was being a former Big Boss contestant.
Khurana criticised actress Kangana’s stand on the ongoing attempts by farmers to enter the national capital and express their protest over the new bills implemented in Parliament related to agricultural laws. Her express one-word criticism labelled the actress as “shameless.” She implied that Kangana was playing a part of a spin doctor in giving her perception about the protests. Kangana on her part had expressed solidarity with the Centre stating the government should be well able to control the situation and prevent the “anti-nationals” (meaning protesting farmers) from indulging in a riotous situation akin to what happened during the Shaheen Bag furore, and described the protesting farmers as blood thirsty vultures.
In addition, despite the reprieve Kangana obtained from the Bombay High Court on the civic body’s partial demolition act, also asking the civic officials to compensate her for the damages, Himanshi made a vitriolic attack stating, “The actress keenly fought and saved her own house but displayed no interest in helping others to do the same on their residential structures.”
Himanshi’s attack on the actress though unable to make any impact when it comes to her personal conduct, did give the impression that the former disapproved of her taking a pro-government stand on the on-going farmer protests, entering the fifth day, with all the protestors standing outside the Delhi border.
The ongoing farmer protests still halted at the outskirts of Delhi has been a hot topic of criticism and also counterviews coming from the pro-government observers. Punjab’s Chief Minister Captain Amrendra Singh said it was the job of the government to listen to its people. “If farmers are joining the agitation from so many states, then they must be really upset. It is these very farmers who would be ruined by the black agricultural laws enacted by the Union Government,” he said.
On Monday, the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee – an umbrella organisation of around 400 farm organisations — stated it would mobilise farmers from different states to support the agitation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, said in a public meeting in Varanasi that the farmers are being “deceived on these historic agriculture reform laws by the same people who have misled them for decades”.
