India

Kangana Ranauat uses Kashmiri Pandits for ‘personal gains’, gets roasted

‘We refuse to be pawns in your battles of puny egos. Do not belittle our tragedy’

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is no stranger to controversies and her unfiltered comments often grab headlines.

This time, when the actress tried to use the name of Kashmiris Pandits and their departure from the valley, she was widely criticised by Pandits for using their name for her “personal gains”.

In a video posted on her official Twitter handle, Ranaut went on to compare the demolition of her office, which BMC officials had razed for “illegal alterations” in Mumbai, with the plight of Kashmiri Pandits.

Referring to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray‎, the actress said: “In a way, you have done me a favour. I always knew what Kashmiri Pandits suffered through, but today I felt it firsthand… Uddhav Thackeray, there is a meaning of this torture and terror unleashed on me.”

In a video, she also pledged to make a film on Kashmiri Pandits, saying that she now understands what KPs might have gone through.

However, her comments did not go well and she was roasted by a number of Kashmiri Pandits for using them to fetch audience for herself.

The first one to counter Ranuat was Rahul Pandita, a journalist and script writer, as he lashed out at the actress saying that she could not comprehend their pain “from the demolition of a wall” in her office.

“I am sorry, but from the demolition of a wall you cannot understand the pain of Kashmiri Pandits. You do not know how it is when all your hair turns white in three days; you do not know how it is when old people die in exile, crying about their inability to see home one last time,” Pandita wrote on Twitter.

“For God’s sake, stop taking our name in vain. We refuse to be pawns in your battles of puny egos. Do not belittle our tragedy. Tomorrow your finger might get hurt somewhere. What will you say? I understand pain of Kashmiri Pandits? Pleaseeeee!,” he added in another tweet.

Another Kashmiri Pandit, Dr Sameer Kaul, lashed out at her for selling the “sad story of Kashmiri Pandits” for petty ends across India.

“Every Tom Dick and Harry sells our sad story to achieve their petty ends across India. We #KashmiriPandits initiated this indiscriminate and compulsive chest thumping and offered ourselves for exploitation. Enough now,” Kaul Tweeted.

Mohit Bhan, spokesperson for People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said that after Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) successfully marketed the pain and agony of Kashmiri Pandits for electoral gains across India, a politically motivated actress is now dragging KP’s for personal reprieve.

He also added Shiv Sena’s contribution in reserving a seat for the youth of KPs in education leading to economic stability.

“After BJP having successfully marketed pain & agony of Kashmiri Pandits for electoral gains across country. Here’s a politically motivated actress dragging KP’s for personal reprieve. @ShivSena ensured a reserved seat for KP youth in education leading to economic stability. FYI,” Bhan wrote.

Earlier, Ranauat had said that Mumbai has become like “Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK)” and Taliban, citing threats from Sena leaders.

Sharp criticism emerged from her peers in the film fraternity, local residents and politicians for the “PoK” reference.

Reacting to this, Iltija Mufti, daughter of former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, who controls her mother’s twitter handle since Mehbooba was arrested in August 2019 when GoI abrogated the special status of JK, said: “Why use PoK as an example to highlight murder of democracy & rule of law? Look closer home at J&K mired in lawlessness & state sponsored repression.Democracy was butchered here long ago”

Following this, the actress shared images of BMC workers inside her office and captioned the post – “Pakistan #DeathOfDemocracy”.

“By using such words,” a political activist, Anjali Damania, feels that “a bigger game is on behind the war of words”.

“What amazes me the most is the words used by Kangana. The choice of words like Ram Mandir, Babri Masjid, Kashmiri Pandit etc, makes us wonder if it is a script written by the BJP. One can smell a massive political game to overthrow the Maharashtra Government and Shivsena is now coming across as an immature political party, walking into the trap.”

 

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