Kangana Ranaut Calls Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose India's 'First Prime Minister' in Viral Video, But Was She Wrong in Saying So? (Watch Video)

Kangana Ranaut is not a newcomer to bold and outrageous statements, but never mind if they are all to be taken with plenty of salt. Now that she has been chosen as BJP's candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha 2024 elections contesting from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, Kangana has been going more vocal than usual about her 'views' on everything under the sun while launching verbal attacks on her political opponents. Such was her interview given at the Times Now summit, hosted by their senior anchor Navika Kumar. Kangana Ranaut Opens Up on the Reason Behind Joining Politics, Says, ‘It Is Not To Gain Publicity or Make Money’.

While she made some pretty incisive statements during the interview—including taking digs at INC member Rahul Gandhi—one of hers is going viral right now. When Navika asked Kangana if there are some who think India has lost its 'freedom' under the alleged dictatorship of present PM Narendra Modi, Kangana went back in history to offer her retort.

Kangana said, "Let me clear one fact first. When we got our freedom, so the first Prime Minister of India... Subhash Chandra Bose... where did he go?"

This Clip was shared by Srinivas BV, National President - Indian Youth Congress, and went viral, claiming to be her gaffe.

When Navika clarified that Bose wasn't the first PM, Kangana asked why he was not made Prime Minister and why he was not allowed to land his plane in India. When asked if Congress didn't allow him to land here, Kangana kept quiet for a second and then began to go on a tirade on Bose's freedom struggle efforts, how he was made to disappear, and how people who watched television from jails were made to run the government.

Watch Kangana's Whole Interview Here (The Bose Part, Specifically From 22.30 Mark):

So Was Kangana Wrong?

Any Indian kid would know that India was freed on August 15, 1947, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was Free India's first Prime Minister. But there is one argument in favour of Kangana here that's not wrong; only that she constructed her debate (trying to belittle Congress' role in the Indian freedom struggle) in the wrong manner. Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti 2024: Interesting Facts To Know About Subhash Chandra Bose on Netaji's 127th Birth Anniversary Observed As Parakram Diwas in India.

Netaji Subhas Chandra, while in exile from British-ruled India, had first gone to Nazi Germany and then to Japan to gather support to fight for the freedom of the country when World War II was raging on. It is a well-known fact that Bose started the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA)  in Japan, comprising captured Indian POWs and expatriates working in the country to help the Japanese army attack the British forces from east of India. Bose even formed a provisional government there called Azad Hind in October 1943 and declared himself the head of state and the first Prime Minister of India even when the country was still under British rule. This could be what Kangana was alluding to in her argument.

However, the latter part of her argument demanded confusion - Kangana's claim about Bose not being made the Prime Minister when India got its freedom in 1947. INA collapsed after Japan surrendered to Allied powers after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and many of its officers were put on trial by the British (Pandit Nehru was one of the lawyers defending the officers). Subhas Chandra Bose later died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945, while en route to Taiwan, though there are plenty of conspiracies around his alleged demise. However contentious his demise was, Kangana's allusion that the Congress didn't allow him to be the PM of Free India and that he was not allowed to land here is what makes her whole argument debatable. It was only in 1946 that the British Government agreed to end their rule in India and started their transfer of power in 1947.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2024 11:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).