The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sent a letter to the election commissioner of India demanding immediate and strict action against Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate and HS Ahir, who made lewd and derogatory remarks about actor Kangana Ranaut.

Recently, Hindi cinema actor Kangana Ranaut was fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in her hometown, Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

A political controversy has erupted after Congress leader Supriya Shrinate allegedly shared an objectionable and derogatory innuendo against the new BJP candidate on Instagram.

The post included actor Kangana Ranaut’s picture with a derogatory caption.

Kangana’s response

Ranaut shared her response on X, saying that “every woman deserves her dignity”.

“Dear Supriya Ji, In the last 20 years of my career as an artist, I have played all kinds of women. From a naive girl in Queen to a seductive spy in Dhaakad, from a goddess in Manikarnika to a demon in Chandramukhi, from a prostitute in Rajjo to a revolutionary leader in Thalaivii,” Ranaut said.

“We must free our daughters from the shackles of prejudice; we must rise above the curiosity about their body parts; and above all, we must refrain from using sex workers challenging lives or circumstances as some kind of abuse or slur... Every woman deserves her dignity...,” she added.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya urged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to sack Shrinate.

“Congress’s Supriya Shrinate makes an obnoxious comment on Kangana Ranaut in an Insta post. It is so disgusting that one can’t help, but ask - how does Congress collect so much filth in one place? If Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has any say in the party, he must sack her immediately or else resign,” Malviya said.

Supriya Shrinate clarifies

While the post triggered a massive uproar on social media, Shrinate issued a clarification, saying that the post had been taken down.

She wrote on X: “Someone who had access to my meta accounts (FB and Instagram) posted an absolutely disgusting and objectionable post, which has been taken down. Anyone who knows me will know I would never say that to a woman. However, a parody account that I have just discovered misusing my name is being run on Twitter (@SupriyaParody), which started the whole mischief and is being reported.”

The netizens, at the same time, refused to buy the clarification made by Shrinate.

The reprehensible post targeting Kangana Ranaut has already done the damage; there is no point offering such clarification now, say many social media users.

According to some, political leaders who troll any eminent figure are in the habit of resorting to such justification and clarification after they find themselves in an embarrassing situation over improper social media practices.

Amid the raging outrage, Shrinate deleted the post from her official Instagram account and tried washing her hands of the incident by claiming that her Meta accounts were hacked. After the post went viral, the BJP launched a scathing attack on Shrinate, accusing her of circulating screenshots of the post, which she claimed to have deleted.

A post by Ranaut on X claimed that Gujarat Congress joint coordinator H S Ahir also posted a lewd comment on X targeting Ranaut.

However, he also took to his X account, saying, “Someone who had access to my X accounts posted an absolutely disgusting and objectionable post, which has been taken down. Anyone who knows me will know I would never say that to a woman. Sorry Dil se sorry”

(With inputs from IANS)