'Bheek' remarks: Strip Kangana of all national awards, demands Shiv Sena

Mumbai, Nov 13: The Shiv Sena on Saturday demanded that actor Kangana Ranaut be stripped of all her national awards over her comments that what India achieved in 1947 was ''bheek'' (alms) and the real freedom was attained only in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, which it said amounted to ''treason''.

The editorial in Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamana' said the country will never tolerate such insult to Independence which was attained through blood, sweat, tears and the sacrifice made by countless Indians.

''The Modi government should strip Kangana of all her national awards,'' the Sena said.

Taking potshots at BJP, Sena said Ranaut's comments have exposed its ''fake nationalism''. ''Nobody had insulted India's freedom fighters in such a manner before Kangana. Recently she was honoured with the Padma Shri award which had earlier been conferred to freedom fighters. It is unfortunate that Kangana was honoured with the same award,'' the editorial said.

Referring to Ranaut's comments, the Sena said the actress' ''present political ancestors'' were nowhere in the scene during the process of the county's freedom struggle.

''Our freedom was achieved through blood, sweat, tears and the sacrifice made by countless people of India. Calling it 'bheek' is a case of treason,'' the Sena said, adding that the ''statue of Sardar Patel (the first home minister of India) must be crying after hearing these comments''.

Though BJP MP Varun Gandhi and actor Anupam Kher have criticised Ranaut where are the staunch nationalists of BJP, the Sena asked. The Shiv Sena, a former ally of the BJP, currently heads the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.