The DCW chairman writes to President Kovind, pleading with him to return Kangana’s Padma Shri

Swati Maliwal, the chairman of the Delhi Commission of Women, said on Sunday that she had written to President Ram Nath Kovind, requesting that the Padma Shri award she had received be revoked in light of her recent comments about India’s independence.

For disrespecting the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh, as well as the independence won through the death of thousands of others, Maliwal said the national award-winning actor deserved treatment, not an award.

Last week, Ranaut sparked a significant uproar when she declared that India’s independence in 1947 was “bheek” (alms), and that the country “won real freedom only in 2014,” a reference to the Narendra Modi-led BJP taking power at the Centre.

कंगना रनाउत ऐसी महिला है जिसे गांधी भगत सिंह की शहादत मज़ाक़ लगती है और लाखों लोगों की त्याग तपस्या से हासिल आज़ादी भीख लगती है! इसको पुरस्कार की नही इलाज की ज़रूरत है!

मैंने राष्ट्रपति को पत्र लिखा है कि तुरंत रनाउत का पद्म श्री वापिस लेके उसपे राष्ट्रद्रोह की FIR होनी चाहिए! pic.twitter.com/GqlwwUSpfK

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) November 14, 2021

Maliwal added the Bollywood star belittled many other important events in the country’s freedom struggle, including the insurrection of 1857, the Khilafat movement, Champaran Satyagrah, and the Quit India movement.

“How can we forget the tens of thousands who gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to protest British rule and the ensuing massacre?” “Are those bheekh chapters in our history?” She also addressed a letter to the President.

Maliwal claimed that this was not a one-off occurrence and that Ranaut did not appear to be in her right mind because she regularly spewed hate towards people from her own country. The DCW head stated, “She constantly used horrible language to insult individuals she does not agree with.”

She went on to say that Ranaut’s behaviour was unfit for a recipient of the country’s greatest honour, and that it was also an insult to the stalwarts who earned the medals alongside and before her.

Ranaut, along with a slew of other celebrities, received the Padma Shri earlier this month.

Ranaut’s statement has been criticised by politicians across the political spectrum, including BJP MP Varun Gandhi, Maharashtra BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, and Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.