'If I have hurt party's cause...': Kangana Ranaut after BJP publicly disciplines her for farmers' protest remarks

PTC News Desk: BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut took a conciliatory tone after the party chastised her for her controversial remarks about the farmers' protest.

"I was reprimanded by the party leadership, which is fine with me. I don't think I'm the party's final voice. I'm not that crazy or stupid to believe that," Ranaut remarked in an interview with India Today.

She admitted that she has "a long way to go" and apologised if her remarks had unintentionally harmed the party's cause or policies.

"If I have genuinely hurt the party's cause and its position or policy, there is nobody who could be more hurt than me," she said later.

Ranaut's statements sparked controversy when she said a "Bangladesh-like situation" could have arisen during the farmers' protest if India's strong leadership had not intervened. She claimed that "bodies were hanging and r@pes were taking place" during the agitation, implying that foreign forces like as China and the United States were participating in the movement.

The BJP denounced Kangana Ranaut's degrading claims and made it clear that she is neither permitted nor authorised to comment on the party's policy matters.

“The statement made by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut in the context of the farmers' agitation is not the opinion of the party. The Bharatiya Janata Party expresses its disagreement with the statement made by Kangana Ranaut,” BJP said. "The Bharatiya Janata Party has directed Kangana Ranaut to not make any statement of this kind in future," it read.

The BJP's public rebuke comes as assembly elections in Haryana, a state heavily hit by the farmers' protests, approach.