Kangana Ranaut was the poster girl of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) until the general elections held less than a year ago. After the actress became an MP, the party praised Kangana for mocking the leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi in the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, but over the past few months, the party MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been consistently absent from both her constituency and Parliament.
According to data from PRS Legislative Research, after registering 100 per cent attendance in her first parliamentary session after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kangana had zero attendance in the 2025 Budget Session. Her attendance in last year’s Budget Session was 80 per cent and in the winter session 90 per cent.
Kangana was not only absent from Parliament but also from the BJP’s high-voltage campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections. Apart from this, she has also stayed away from court hearings and has been absent from her constituency.
BJP Mandi district chief Nihal Chand Sharma says she rarely visits her constituency.
Kangana also missed the court hearing in a defamation case filed by lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar in Mumbai on February 5. Her lawyer told the court that she could not appear due to her “parliamentary commitments”, but the complaint filed by Akhtar’s lawyer Jai Bhardwaj said that she has already missed 40 court dates.
Many are asking: Where is Kangana Ranaut?
Her office said she has been commuting between Mumbai and Manali for the past few months. In January, Kangana was busy with the release of her much-awaited film Emergency, which – though less of a flop than her previous films – failed to perform as expected at the box office.
Then, when the budget session began in February, Kangana was busy fulfilling a childhood dream, opening her first restaurant, Mountain Story, in Manali.
BJP’s star candidate
When Kangana Ranaut was selected to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Mandi seat last year, the seat has long been a family stronghold of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. His wife, Congress leader Pratibha Singh, represented the seat. Kangana defeated Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh by a huge margin of 74,755 votes, giving the BJP a significant victory in Himachal Pradesh.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to campaign in the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, his support for her was clear. The Prime Minister had also criticised Congress social media chairperson Supriya Shrinet for posting a controversial post about Kangana.
Modi said in a public meeting on May 24, “You must have seen how the Congress party insults daughters who have achieved success through their hard work, how the Congress party used such words for Kangana ji. This is an insult to the market, an insult to Himachal and you will have to answer the Congress party for this insult.”
The controversy began a few months ago in March, when Shrinet wrote in a post on social media platform X, “What is the price going on in the market?”
Upset by this comment, the BJP supported Kangana and said it was insulting. Shrinet apologized and deleted the post, also saying that her account had been tampered with.
Kangana is known for giving sharp bytes
In her first session in Parliament, Kangana was everywhere – and used to give sharp bytes about Rahul Gandhi daily on TV. She never missed an opportunity to make fun of Congress leader Rahul. When Gandhi made her first speech as Leader of the Opposition, Kangana immediately called it “stand-up comedy” and also urged him to seek “therapy”.
According to PRS Legislative Research, she participated in six debates in which she raised issues related to her constituency.
Why BJP distanced herself from Kangana
The BJP did not distance itself from Kangana suddenly, but took this step nine months after the Lok Sabha elections. One of the main reasons for this was the party’s displeasure with her repeated controversial statements, especially those related to farmers and Sikhs. She landed in trouble when she spoke on farmers’ issues in the midst of the assembly elections in Haryana, where farmer protests were a politically sensitive issue and Sikhs constitute more than five percent of the population.
In August, Kangana had said in an interview to a Hindi newspaper that during the 2020-2021 farmers’ agitation, “dead bodies were hanging and rapes were happening” and “there was a plan to create a Bangladesh-like situation in India”. Her comments created a political storm, with BJP leaders from Haryana and Punjab registering their concerns with the high command. The opposition termed Kangana’s comments as “a gross insult to farmers”.
Not only did BJP president JP Nadda summon Kangana, but the party also distanced itself from her statement and warned her not to make such comments in future. Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar slammed the actress and warned her against misrepresenting Punjabis and farmers. Despite the party’s rebuke and strict instructions, Kangana created another political storm a month later by demanding the re-implementation of three farm laws, which Kangana later withdrew.
Kangana is slowly becoming one of the most hated personalities in the Sikh community.
has become one of the most controversial figures in the country, which was revealed when a woman constable slapped her at an airport. Her constant sharp rhetoric on farmers’ protests and calling protesters Khalistanis had sparked widespread anger against Kangana. She felt it was her specialty, but the Prime Minister and top BJP leaders decided not to promote her and further anger the Sikh community.
Referring to her film Emergency, the leader said, “Even when her film was helping the BJP, the cautious BJP did not promote Kangana’s film knowing its consequences in the Sikh community.”
The BJP’s unease with Kangana became clear when her film Emergency, in which she played former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, faced delays before its scheduled release in September. With the Haryana election campaign approaching, the BJP was in no mood to inflame Sikh sentiments by allowing the film to release, fearing the anger of Sikh voters.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is headed by BJP-appointed chief Prasoon Joshi and there is a BJP government at the Centre, yet the film was not cleared by the censor board. Facing opposition from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Akali Dal over its portrayal of the Sikh community, the censor board withheld its certificate, demanding several cuts. BJP leaders from Haryana and Punjab also appealed to the high command not to release Kangana’s film to avoid reopening old wounds. Emergency, which was scheduled to release on September 6, 2022, finally hit the theatres in January 2025, but after several cuts and after the Haryana elections were over.
But the multiple National Film Award winner was surprised that the film was not promoted by the BJP and right-wing circles. Unlike other films associated with the party’s ideological message, it did not have a high-profile screening in the national capital and was not made tax-free by any BJP-led state government. Neither Modi nor Union Home Minister Amit Shah praised the film for exposing the excesses of the Emergency.
In contrast, when filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri released the controversial “The Kashmir Files” depicting the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 2022, Modi not only praised Agnihotri for making the film but also supported it at a BJP parliamentary party meeting. Several BJP state governments screened the film and declared it tax-free.
Similarly, when “The Sabarmati Report” starring actor Vikrant Massey, depicting the 2002 Godhra train fire, was released, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, headed by Ashwini Vaishnav, organised a special screening at the Parliament Library on December 3. Modi attended the screening along with Nadda, Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the entire cabinet.
Former Punjab minister Manoranjan Kalia says she is not interested in politics. She should focus on films and acting. Due to her sharp comments, she has often hurt the sentiments of the people of Punjab.
Punjab BJP leader Harjit Grewal said: “She should not comment on every issue. Despite the growing rift between Kangana and the party leadership, many BJP leaders still believe that Kangana Ranaut’s political career is not over yet.”
