Bathinda: Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut apologised to an elderly farmer activist in a Bathinda court on Monday for her social media post during the 2020-21 farmers' protest. However, 81-year-old Mahinder Kaur, a resident of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district of Punjab, reportedly refused to forgive the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP.
On Monday, Ranaut was granted bail in a 2021 defamation case filed by Kaur. The BJP MP from Mandi apologised to the elderly farmer activist for her social media post. In her X post, the BJP MP had said that "women like her are available for ₹100 to join protests."
Kaur decided to pursue the legal battle, reported The Tribune. The elderly woman said Ranaut is a big actress, but she made her come to court at this age.
The actor-turned politician was granted bail after furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000. Kaur did not appear in court due to her poor health. She was represented by her husband Labh Singh.
"She has never met me. I will not forgive her. She is a big actress and political leader, while I am a small farmer. Yet she has made me come to the court at this age," Kaur said as quoted by The Tribune.
"She should realise how much her visit costs the state exchequer and the trouble caused to the public because of it. She says her remark was misinterpreted, but it’s not true," the elderly woman added.
Notably, in the court, the Mandi MP called a "misunderstanding" was caused by her tweet on Kaur. She did not mean to target the elderly woman in her tweet, and she respects every mother.
“Every mata, be she from Punjab or Himachal, is respectable to me. Whatever misunderstanding happened with the family of Mahinder (Kaur) ji, I explained to Mata ji through her husband about how she was the victim of a misunderstanding,” Ranaut said as quoted by the Indian Express.
The controversy erupted when the BJP MP misidentified Kaur as Bilkis Bano, the elderly woman who grabbed headlines during the 2020 Shaheen Bagh protest. In her tweet, Ranait claimed that the elderly lady is available for Rs 100 to participate in protests. In January 2021, Kaur filed a defamation case against the BJP leader.
Kangana Ranaut's X post on Mahinder Kaur |
For the unversed, Farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, staged a year-long protest against three farm laws passed in Parliament in September 2020.
