Efforts to make India ‘Hindu Rashtra’ started in 2014, says BJP Mandi candidate Kangana Ranaut

Kangana Ranaut, the BJP candidate from Mandi, repeated her earlier claim that India had become independent in 2014. On May 13, she expressed her desire for India to become a 'Hindu Rashtra'.

“Our forbears saw and suffered centuries of slavery under the Mughals, followed by the British. What followed after 1947, when the country was freed of British rule, was the misgovernance of the Congress over several decades,” ANI quoted the Bollywood actor as saying. 

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"The country, in the truest sense, attained freedom in 2014. It not only marked freedom for thinking but also for Sanatan. It gave us the freedom to practice and flaunt our own religion without fear and advance the vision of making India a Hindu Rashtra," she added.

She wondered why India wasn't declared a Hindu nation at independence. 

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"During partition in 1947, which led to the birth of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, why wasn't India declared a Hindu nation? We will work towards making India a Hindu Rashtra," she added.

Kangana is running for election in Mandi, a constituency usually dominated by the Congress party. The actor is up against Vikramaditya Singh from Congress, the son of the former chief minister, Virbhadra Singh. The election will take place on June 1.

Vikramaditya Singh on Kangana Ranaut

Kangana's rival, Vikramaditya Singh, earlier took a jibe at the BJP candidate. The Queen actor has no political understanding or vision and is seeking votes only in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.

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Singh also said that the actor-turned-politician had "zero knowledge" about the region. According to him, his comments were based on the kind of promises she had been making. He referred to Ranaut making an airport at Mandi.

"The location at which they were trying to bring it (the airport) up is a very fertile area. If we build an airport in such an area, we will have to listen to the issues of farmers," the Congress leader said.