BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday strongly criticised the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protesters over alleged abusive remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the student protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The actor-politician said such language was “completely unacceptable” in a democracy.
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“Our 75-year-old Prime Minister was targeted, and filthy abuse was hurled at his late mother,” Ranaut told reporters outside the Parliament building. “We, too, have participated in student protests. But what kind of students are these, and what kind of obscene language are they using? In what way do they resemble students?”
ALSO READ | What CJI said on police excess, pellet gun claims and message for protesting ‘cockroaches’
She questioned whether the protesters would be able to afford legal representation if they faced court cases, saying many would end up depending on their parents.
“They do not have the means to afford it themselves. We have been building our own careers since the age of sixteen. We have never been a burden on our parents. As a society, this is not acceptable to us in any way,” she said.
Her remarks came after Delhi Police directed multiple social media platforms to remove posts and videos containing offensive and abusive remarks against Modi.
The posts were allegedly uploaded during the student protests at Jantar Mantar after the police crackdown during the July 20 Chalo Sansad march.
The Opposition, led by the Congress, has demanded a discussion in Parliament over the “brutal and disproportionate” use of force against students. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has questioned the alleged use of pellet guns during the police crackdown, while Delhi Police said that action was necessary because students turned violent.
ALSO READ | Delhi police orders takedown of offensive posts targeting PM Modi during GenZ protests
Officials said the force’s social media monitoring team had been scanning online platforms to identify objectionable content. Notices were being issued to social media intermediaries directing them to remove such posts.
Responding to the police action, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das accused the government of censorship and said criticism and satire directed at the Prime Minister were part of a healthy democracy.
“The Prime Minister is not God, then obviously people will joke. That’s a part of democracy: making comments and expressing opinions,” Das said in an interview on Monday.
“But if such content is being taken down, I don’t understand it. This government has engaged in so much censorship over the past few years, and it only ends up creating even more content. It’s called the Streisand effect; the government should understand that.”
Das said attempts to suppress content often ended up drawing greater public attention to it. He also asked the government to focus on fulfilling the promises it made to young people instead of, in his words, censoring online content and filing FIRs against protesters.
On Monday, Ranaut criticised videos from the CJP protests, saying they were “puke inducing” and accusing the demonstrators of using crude and offensive language.
She said she had never seen such “ugliness” in one place and questioned the upbringing of the protesters, saying the language and behaviour seen in the viral videos were disturbing.
ALSO READ | ‘Filth, garbage’: Kangana Ranaut reacts to ‘puke inducing’ Gen Z protest videos from Jantar Mantar
“Never in my life I have seen so much ugliness in one place, these reels from Gen Z protests are puke inducing. The way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at once,” she wrote.
“You call yourself cockroaches and look/behave like them as well… there is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness.”
