Responding to actor-turned-BJP MP Kangana Ranaut’s remarks describing Gen Z as “Generation Gutter”, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Tuesday said that even her own party, the BJP, does not take her seriously.
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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?”, news agency ANI quoted her as saying.
She questioned whether the parents of such students would be able to afford lawyers or legal counsel in the future if they ever happened to need it.
“If these individuals need Supreme Court lawyers or legal counsel in the future, will their parents be able to afford it? 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 added.
In a series of Instagram Stories, Ranaut criticised videos of the student demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and said they were “puke inducing”.
“Never in my life have I 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.
CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka also launched a sharp attack on Ranaut, saying, “You’ve called us cockroaches, you’ve called us gutter; remember, these cockroaches crawled out of the gutter and forced one of your ministers to resign.”
Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress president Akshay Lakra also criticised the actor saying, “Kangana Ranaut’s remarks on Gen Z protesters reflects her low mentality; justifying violence and hatred against them.”
CJP’s 37-day agitation saw thousands of protesters gather at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the paper leak controversy.
Pradhan resigned on July 25 and was replaced by Pralhad Joshi as the union education minister.
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CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said, “Even members of her own party don’t pay much heed to Kangana Ranaut or take her seriously, so why should we? I don’t think anyone in Gen Z, Gen Alpha, or any younger generation takes her seriously or listens to what she says,” news agency ANI reported.
Das said Ranaut’s own public remarks about her role as an MP reflected a lack of seriousness. He said that while she calls Gen Z unserious, she revealed her own ‘unseriousness’ by making such statements.
Referring to a video from Ranaut’s visit to her Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, Das said the BJP MP had admitted that she initially believed the job would require very little effort before realising the extent of the responsibilities involved.
“She is a politician now. There were videos from her visit to her constituency in Himachal Pradesh where she said she had expected the job to involve very little work, only to realise that being a Member of Parliament requires a massive amount of labour. That, in itself, speaks volumes about how seriously she takes her responsibilities,” Das said.
Expanding on her criticism, the CJP spokesperson said that ministers should take care of their vocabulary and should uphold the dignity of their office.
Backing the younger generation, Das said Gen Z has contributed far more to the country than the actor-turned-MP. He argued that the generation has played a key role in restoring people’s faith in India’s democracy, something he said Ranaut had failed to do.
“Gen Z has worked to restore faith in the nation’s democracy—something you haven’t done. You should definitely keep that in mind,” Das said.
His comments came after Ranaut criticised the CJP protesters over alleged abusive remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, calling it “completely unacceptable.”
“Ewww, who is birthing and raising them?” Ranaut also questioned protesting Gen Z students’ bringing up.
Calling India “a place of diversely beautiful people, draped in elegance and rooted in cultural sophistication”, she said, “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. I am scarred from these reels, need some healing, digital detox.”
In a separate interview, Das said, “These words do not seem to come from a person who is mentally stable. Because you would not use this kind of language against young people. If there is a young person in your family who belongs to Gen Z or Gen Alpha, would you use such language against them? So, I don’t know. I mean, I do not have much to say about Kangana Ranaut,” PTI reported.
