Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut takes on Maharashtra government

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has criticised Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for stating that she has no right to stay in Mumbai, and compared Mumbai's governing body to Taliban.

"He is taking his own calls on my democratic rights, from POK to Taliban in one day," Ranaut wrote on her verified Twitter account.

She also shared a link which reported Deshmukh as saying that Kangana has no right to stay in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and that strict action can be taken against the actress.

"I see many people are threatening me to not come back to Mumbai so I have now decided to travel to Mumbai this coming week on 9th September, I will post the time when I land at the Mumbai airport, kisi ke baap mein himmat hai toh rok le (stop me if you can)," tweeted the actress.

This comes a day after the actress alleged on Twitter that Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has asked her not to come back to Mumbai.

"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 (POK)?," the actress had tweeted on Thursday.

A day later, Renuka Shahane slammed Ranaut for comparing Mumbai to PoK, and this led to a mini war of tweets on Friday between the two actresses.

"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!" wrote Renuka, on her verified Twitter handle.

Ranaut replied to Renuka from her official account with the tweet: "Dear @renukash 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."

Renuka wrote back that she is all for criticising the government but that comparing Mumbai to Pakistan-administered Kashmir was in bad taste.

"Dear @KanganaTeam I am all for criticizing Govts. But 'why Mumbai is feeling like POK' seems to me like a direct comparison between Mumbai & POK. Your comparison was really in bad taste. As a Mumbaikar I did not like it! Maybe it was naive of me to expect any better from you," Renuka said.

To which, Ranaut said: "POK is also Hindustan only governments differ and that makes all the difference, slow day huh."

Several Bollywood celebrities including Dia Mirza, Ritesh Deshmukh, Hansal Mehta and Meera Chopra have earlier defended Mumbai and its police force in response to Kangana's claim.

Ranaut is currently in her hometown Manali, where she has spent the lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic with her family.