Chandigarh: Freshly won from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, actor Kangana Ranaut got slapped by a woman security officer at the Chandigarh airport on Thursday. She was on her way to Delhi. Kangana, who won with a lead of more than 70,000 votes with a BJP ticket, was slapped by Officer Kulwinder Kaur. She said that she was triggered by an old derogatory remark by the actor about the farmers who protested against the three draconian farm laws the Modi government introduced during their last term. The officer said that her mother was a farmer and she was also among the protesters.
In 2020, Kangana had called a woman farm law protester' Bilkis Bano', an elderly woman who was one of the faces of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Law (CAA) earlier that year in Shaheen Bagh. The actor then said that the woman was "available for Rs 100", implying that the protesters are paid to act by certain groups.
Many right-wing sections had tried to paint the protesters as Khalistani' terrorists' or supporters during that time. Later, in 2021, Kanagana appeared with another statement that the farm law protesters were "terrorists" who were trying to divide India. Also, a vulnerable India would be easy for China to take over, she said without inhibition.
Following the slapping incident, which was, however, not available in video footage from the airport that surfaced on social media, the attacked officer Kaur was suspended and is said to be facing a police case. Officer Kaur said that she slapped the actor for "disrespecting farmers".
Later, after reaching Delhi, Kangana shared a video message in which she described the incident. She said that the slapping incident happened while she was at the check-in, and the woman guard was waiting for her to cross so she could slap her.
"She then came and hit me... started throwing expletives. I asked (her) why she hit me. She said, 'I support farmers'," Kangana says in the video. Then, she alleged that there is a situation of rising terrorism in Punjab.
"…my concern my concern is terrorism is rising in Punjab. How do we handle that?" she said.