Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut has been elected to the Indian parliament, becoming one of only a few members of the film industry in the nation's new legislature. In her home state of Himachal Pradesh in the north, Ranaut ran as a candidate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party in Mandi. She won by a narrow margin of less than 75,000 votes. Kangana expressed her emotions, stating she feels grateful to the people of Mandi for electing the BJP and appreciates the good governance of PM Modi. After Modi's party came to power in 2014, Ranaut -- the breakout star of the well-received Bollywood hit Queen from 2013 -- became the most well-known Indian celebrity to openly and closely align herself with it, supporting its Hindu nationalist cause.

She has previously come under fire for parroting the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the ruling party. “Heartfelt gratitude to all Mandi residents for this support, this love and trust,” she said on X, referring to her constituency. “This victory is of all of you, this is the victory of faith in prime minister Modi and BJP, this is the victory of Sanatan, this is the victory of the honour of Mandi.”  The actor triumphed over prominent political family member Vikramaditya Singh of the main opposition Congress party. Virbhadra Singh, his father, led Himachal Pradesh as chief minister for six terms. In April 2020, Ranaut was mentioned in a police report for inciting tensions between communities after calling Muslims "terrorists" in a video endorsing her sister and manager Rangoli Chandel, who was also banned from Twitter and X for encouraging violence against the minority religion.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan