Kangana Ranaut's comments on Mumbai spark political war

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's comment likening Mumbai to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, has not gone down well with the Maharashtra government, and has sparked a political war.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Actress Kangana Ranaut, who has been extremely vocal with her views on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, claiming that nepotism in Bollywood might have had a big role to play in the actor's demise, has now traded her guns towards the Maharashtra government.

The actress recently stated that she is afraid of the Mumbai Police and that the city now feels like Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Queen actress' latest comment has not gone down well with the Shiv Sena, which is leading the government in the state.

Kangana, who had been consistently referring to the established production houses in Bollywood as 'mafia', said even the drug mafia was just as dangerous.

Reacting to the above, BJP leader Ram Kadam had tweeted asking for protection for the actress. He tweeted that Kangana can expose the Bollywood drug mafia, and hence needed protection.

However, Kangana responded to Ram Kadam's tweet claiming that she was now more afraid of the Mumbai Police than the movie mafia goons. She demanded security by the Himachal government or directly by the Central government instead of the Mumbai Police.

Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut did not take this criticism of the Mumbai Police well, as he requested the actress to refrain from travelling back to Mumbai if she did not trust the city police.

Read:Act against those defaming Mumbai police: Raut on Kangana

"This is nothing but an insult to the Mumbai police. The Home Ministry should take appropriate action on this. If political parties are behind such people, it is also a big dishonesty. Therefore, the Chief Minister and Home Minister should take action on such people," he wrote in Shiv Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

After Sanjay Raut's response, Kangana tweeted again, "Sanjay Raut Shiv Sena leader has given me an open threat and asked me not to come back to Mumbai, after Aazadi graffitis in Mumbai streets and now open threats, why Mumbai is feeling like Pakistan occupied Kashmir?"

The BJP meanwhile, seems to have taken a firm stand behind Kangana, with Mumbai BJP leader and MLA Ram Kadam taking Kangana's side and trying to target the Maharashtra government. He tweeted his support for the actress and wrote, "Again deplorable comment from a ShivSena leader. #MVA has resorted to selfish pressure tactics on Mum Police denying justice to #SSR Their aim is to safeguard the Bollywood-Drug mafia nexus and the leaders @KanganaTeam is Jhansiki Rani who won't be affected by such hollow threats"

Meanwhile, Sachin Sawant of the Congress responded to Ram Kadam's criticism. "Strongly condemn this ridiculous comparison of Mumbai - a city which has been giving shelter & hope to crores of ppl - with POK. & this #BJP MLA instead of condemning compares the ungrateful lady with Jhansi ki Rani," he tweeted.

Read:Sena women protest over Kangana's comments on Mumbai, police

In another tweet, he targeted Kangana and BJP and said that the BJP is constantly deliberately insulting Maharashtra. He also demanded an apology from Kangana for her recent remarks against the state.

Vivek Moitra, whose name came up in the case, was reportedly associated with Ram Kadam. Kadam also has close ties in Bollywood. Further, it has come to light that Moitra allegedly supplied drugs to Ram Kadam.

Sachin Sawant has demanded a narco test of Ram Kadam. In the Sushant Singh case, Sawant has demanded an inquiry into who Sandeep Singh is and why he called the BJP office 53 times and the discussion he had.

Kangana's tweets drew a barrage of criticim from her Bollywood colleagues. Actress Urmila Matondkar hit back at Kangana and wrote, "Maharashtra is cultural n intellectual face of India..land of Great Shivaji Maharaj. Mumbai has fed millions of Indians n given them Name Fame n Glory. Only ungrateful can compare it with POK..Shocked n disgusted #EnoughIsEnough "

Actress Renuka Shahane, while replying to Kangana's tweet on social media, wrote, "Dear @KanganaTeam Mumbai is the city where your dream of becoming a Bollywood star has been fulfilled, one would expect you to have some respect for this wonderful city. It's appalling how you compared Mumbai with POK!"

Read:Kangana has no moral right to live in Mumbai: Maharashtra Home Minister

Replying to Shahane, Kangana wrote, "Dear @renukas ji when did criticising the poor administration of a government became equal to the place being administered, I don’t believe you are that naive, were you also waiting like a blood thirsty vulture to pounce and get a piece of my meat? Expected better from you"

Further, the hashtag #MumbaiMeriJaan also started trending on social media. Many Hindi and Marathi artists, including Riteish Deshmukh, openly opposed Kangana's comments.

Apart from Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP and BJP in Maharashtra, other parties have also condemned Kangana's statement. Suprisingly however, the Karni Sena, which was seemingly supporting Kangana earlier, also protested Kangana's statement about Mumbai.

Kangana, who currently lives in Shimla, said she would return to Mumbai on September 9.