A complaint was filed on Sunday against the Congress and the Hamirpur Youth Congress Club by the Himachal Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly portraying actor and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, in a negative light by using ‘an old and objectionable photo’ of her and posting derogatory remarks about her.
The BJP has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI), to take appropriate legal action against them for their use of objectionable, scandalous, and offensive language on social media platforms.
Karan Nanda, BJP state media in-charge, in the complaint addressed to ECI, accused the grand old party for reportedly directing its several wings just to tarnish Kangana’s character on social media. The Hamirpur Youth Congress Club, according to Nanda, used a photo of Kangana from her ‘artistic pursuits’ to portray her negatively and posted ‘derogatory double meaning remarks’.
The complaint states that Congress leaders have repeatedly broken laws like the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951; and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). It also mentions that they have committed offences under other sections like the IPC and Information Technology Act, 2000, adding that the remarks fall within the definition of ‘corrupt practice’.
Also Read:Delhi: Massive fire at under-construction Central Secretariat common building – See visuals
“It is the duty of every artist to portray the character given to him or her as convincingly as they can and every character has its own challenges and requirements but ignoring this aspect, the Congress was repeatedly using Kangana’s artistic pursuits to portray her in a vulgar manner with intentions to demean her, as the remarks are not only derogatory and sexually oriented, undermining the dignity of a woman but are also violative of the mandatory guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct,” the complaint added, as PTI reported.
Notably, the post, which was shared through the Hamirpur Youth Congress Club and featured Kangana’s image with the caption ‘Lo kar lo Baat! Mandi mai garmi’ on their social media page, had more than 10,000 followers. The BJP has called upon the ECI to consider the Congress’ ‘irresponsible’ behavior, seeing it as part of a ‘dangerous’ trend, highlighting that the Congress leaders are ‘habitual offenders’ with a history of violating the provisions of law.
Moreover, the BJP stressed that this isn’t the first instance of Congress leaders making objectionable remarks against Kangana. Earlier, when Kangana was given the BJP’s ticket for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Congress Spokesperson Supriya Srinate’s alleged comment ‘Mandi main ladkion ke kya bhav chal rahe hain’ sparked controversy and drew strong reactions from the BJP. Consequently, a complaint was filed against the Congress leader with the ECI.
