Uttar Pradesh Mahila Congress workers, led by state president Mamta Chaudhary, staged a strong protest in Motijheel Colony, Anupam Nagar, against BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut’s recent comments on young women protesters. The demonstrators burnt effigies of Kangana Ranaut and Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi. They demanded that Kangana issue a public apology to the country’s daughters. During the demonstration, police detained several protesters as the situation grew tense.
The protest was triggered by Kangana’s series of social med”a posts targeting participants in the recent Gen Z-led agitations that began at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and later spread to other cities. In her posts, she described the protest videos as “puke-inducing” and said she had never seen so much “ugliness, filth and garbage” in one place. She called the language and behaviour of the demonstrators “jarring and crass” and questioned their upbringing with the remark, “Who is birthing and raising them?”
Kangana specifically targeted a section of young women involved in the protests. She referred to them as “Generation Gutter” and “so-called westernised Indian women.” She alleged that some of them flaunted freedom involving drugs, drinks and “endless body counts” while living off their parents’ earnings. She further claimed that certain protesters were “so ugly and corrupt” that they could neither succeed in studies nor make good homemakers, and argued that true independence required accountability rather than dependence on family support.
Mahila Congress leaders condemned the remarks as an insult to an entire generation of young women who had come out to raise legitimate public concerns. They said such language from a sitting Member of Parliament was unacceptable and crossed the line of political criticism. Burning the effigies of both Kangana and Education Minister Pralhad Joshi was presented as a symbolic expression of their anger and a demand for accountability. The inclusion of Joshi’s effigy appeared linked to the broader education-related protests that had fuelled the recent youth agitations.
Police moved in as the protest intensified and took several women workers into custody. The demonstration remained localised but added to the political heat already generated by Kangana’s comments across opposition parties and sections of the public. Congress leaders and other opposition voices had already criticised the BJP MP for attacking protesters instead of engaging with the issues they had raised.
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The episode reflects the sharp polarisation that has followed the recent student and youth protests. While Kangana maintained that her criticism was directed only at specific behaviour she found objectionable and later clarified that she appreciated many responsible young people, opposition groups including the Mahila Congress viewed the remarks as a broad and demeaning attack on young women exercising their democratic right to protest. The demand for an apology continues, and the political fallout from the “Generation Gutter” comments is likely to persist in the coming days.
