Actress Kangana Ranaut should shift from Mumbai if she thinks the city is like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and is "bad" to her, Maharashtra transport minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab said on Monday.
Parab's comments came hours after the actress left Mumbai for her native Himachal Pradesh, tweeting she has been terrorised with "constant attacks and abuses" and that her analogy comparing the Maharashtra capital with PoK was "bang on".
"If Mumbai is this bad, then she should live where she finds it right. We had said this earlier too and we continue to hold this view," Parab told reporters.
The minister said the Sena had no "personal issues" with Ranaut.
"At the same time, the party cannot just listen if someone criticises or says bad things about the megapolis," he said.
Parab said, "Kangana Ranaut is not only the Sena's issue, but also of those who love Mumbai and Maharashtra".
"She has to decide what she wants to do. Maharashtra will decide what it has to do. She should shift from here, if she thinks Mumbai is like PoK," the minister added.
The Sena and Ranaut have been at loggerheads ever since the actress compared Mumbai to PoK after Sena leader Sanjay Raut asked her not to return to Mumbai.
Raut had targeted Ranaut after she expressed her distrust in the Mumbai Police in view of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.
Asked about Ranaut meeting Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Sunday and raising concern over partial demolition of her Pali Hill office by the Mumbai civic body last week, Parab questioned why the governor met only the actress.
"If the governor meets her after the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) took legal action at her office, then he should also meet all those, including the poor, whose illegal structures in Mumbai are demolished by the BMC," Parab said.
Ranaut had said that she met Koshyari to apprise him about "injustice" done to her.
Parab termed as a "legal step" the action taken by the BMC against "illegal alterations" made at the actress' office.
Without naming the BJP, the Sena leader asked why the opposition party was "pained" after Ranaut's office was razed partially.
"That means the one (read Ranaut) who was parroting on its (read BJP) behalf suffered (due to the demolition) and therefore, the opponents are pained," he added.
Parab also took a dig at Union minister and BJP ally Ramdas Athawale who too had met the governor on the issue, saying the "shutter of the RPI-A leader's shop is half down and he is trying to reopen it fully".
Parab added that all know how much importance is to be attached to Athawales remarks.
About Sena workers assaulting a retired navy officer in the city for allegedly circulating a cartoon lampooning chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the minister said the incident cannot be defended.
He, however, added that both sides should have stayed in their limits.
"Who gave him (the retired officer) the freedom to launch a verbal attack on our deity (Thackeray)? Had he observed restraint, Shiv Sainiks would not have lost their (patience). Just because he was a naval officer does not mean that he will not observe restraint," Parab said.
Likening Mumbai to PoK is blasphemy: Congress
Mumbai is "pride" of Maharashtra and India and to demean thecity by likening it to Pakistan occupied Kashmir is "blasphemy", All India Congress Committee secretary Ashish Dua said on Monday without naming actress Kangana Ranaut.
Taking to Twitter a day after Ranaut met Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan, Dua also said the governor's office is "not for politics".
"#Mumbai is pride of #Maharashtra & entire India. This is a city which has realised dreams of millions without prejudice or discrimination. To demean it by comparing with PoK is blasphemy. Guv office is not for politics," Dua tweeted.
He said the BJP should refrain from "dividing citizens on the basis of region".
The Congress is one of the ruling constituents of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghahdi dispensation; the other being the Nationalist Congress Party.
