Maharashtra Congress to file criminal case against Kangana Ranaut over Gandhi comments

Following in the steps of the Aam Admi Party, Maharashtra Congress party chief Nana Patole has announced that the Congress will be seeking legal recourse following several controversial statements made by Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut on Mahatma Gandhi. A case has been registered with the Mumbai Police.

The actress has been doubling down on statements made at the Times Now Summit last week in which she claimed that Indian independence was like alms offered to the Congress by the British. Ranaut later took to instagram to make several posts on freedom fighters such as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi which have deepened the controversy.

"Either you are a Gandhi fan or Nataji supporter You can't be both... Choose and decide," Ranaut captioned the post which shows news clipping headlined "Gandhi, others had agreed to hand over Netaji". The report claimed that Gandhi, along with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, came to an agreement with a British judge that they would hand Bose over if he were to enter the country.

"Those are the ones who taught us, 'If someone slaps you offer another cheek for one more slap' and that is how you will get Aazadi. That's not how one gets Aazadi, one can only get bheekh like that. Choose your heros wisely(sic)," the 34-year-old actress said, claiming that there was evidence that Gandhi had wanted Bhagat Singh hanged.

On November 11, national executive chairman of the Aam Aadmi Party Preethi Menon filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police seeking an FIR against Kangana Ranaut for her allegedly seditious remarks at the Times Now conclave where she was a guest speaker. The actress had remarked that India truly got freedom only after the Modi government came into power in 2014.