BJP files complaint against Congress for 'assassinating' Kangana Ranaut's character

The Himachal Pradesh BJP Sunday filed a complaint against the Congress and the Hamirpur Youth Congress Club for allegedly portraying actor and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, in a negative light by using pictures from her films.

The BJP urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to initiate appropriate legal action against them for using objectionable, scandalous and offensive language on social media.

In its complaint to the ECI, with copy to the Himachal chief electoral officer, the BJP alleged that the Congress has directed its various wings to assassinate the character of Kangana on social media. The Hamirpur Youth Congress Club has used a picture of Kangana from her "artistic pursuits" to portray her as a negative character and posted "derogatory double meaning remarks".

The complaint filed by BJP state media in-charge Karan Nanda cited the repeated instances of alleged "serious violations" of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951; and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the Congress leaders.

The instances also attract offences under the relevant sections of IPC and Information Technology Act, 2000 and the remarks fall within the definition of "corrupt practice", it said.

"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.

The page of Hamirpur Youth Congress Club on which a photograph of Kangana with a remark has been posted has 10,000 followers, Nanda told PTI.

The BJP also urged the ECI to take into account the "irresponsible" behaviour of the Congress which is following a "dangerous" pattern. It also pointed out that the Congress leaders are "habitual offenders" with a history of violating the provisions of law, it said.

The party further said this is not for the first time that the Congress leaders made such objectionable and derogatory remarks against Kangana.

Earlier, soon after the BJP declared Kangana as its candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Congress Spokesperson Supriya Srinate had commented "Mandi main ladkion ke kya bhav chal rahe hain". It drew vociferous reactions from the BJP, which filed a complaint against the Congress leader with ECI, the complaint said.

Source: The Telegraph, India/PTI