Kangana Ranaut has denied allegations that her office in Mumbai had illegal constructions
A furious Kangana Ranaut after flying into Mumbai on Wednesday hit back at the Shiv Sena and its leaders including Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over demolishing a portion of her office in the city on charges of illegal construction. She also criticised filmmaker Karan Johar, tying him to what she called the "Karan Johar gang" in a tweet storm that asked people to "wake up now".
"Today they have demolished my house. Tomorrow it will be yours. Governments come and go. When you normalise violent suppression of a voice, it becomes the norm. Today one person being burned at the stake. Tomorrow it will be jowhar of thousands, wake up now," Ms Ranaut tweeted, along with videos of a portion of her office being demolished by the country's richest civic agency, BMC.
Karan Johar was one of the Bollywood personalities who was trolled in the days after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput over allegations that some people in the entertainment sector encouraged only the sons and daughters of established actors, leading to a heated debate on nepotism.
Ms Ranaut's swipe at Karan Johar - known in the industry as KJo - in the same tweet that also attacked Shiv Sena leaders was seen as reinforcing allegations that some politicians and big names in Bollywood protect one another's interests.
The videos tweeted by the actor show plywood, glass and concrete scattered in the destroyed rooms of what used to be her office. Some of the walls stood intact with light blue paint still unscratched by the tools of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, run by the Shiv Sena.
"Come Udhav Thakeray and Karan Johar Gang. You broke my workplace. Come now break my house, then break my face and body. I want world to see clearly what you anyway do underhand. Whether I live or die I will expose you regardless," Ms Ranaut tweeted.
"My office was suddenly declared illegal in last 24 hours. They have destroyed everything inside, including furniture and lights, and now I am getting threats they will come to my house and break it as well. I am glad my judgement of movie mafia's favourite world's best CM was right," Ms Ranaut tweet in a dig at Uddhav Thackeray.
Matter escalated sharply last week after Ms Ranaut said she feared living in Mumbai, after which Shiv Sena leaders including Sanjay Raut told her she should move out of the country's financial and entertainment capital. Then she retorted that "Mumbai feels like PoK", short for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a comment that she repeated today.
A portion of actor Kangana Ranaut's office demolished by Mumbai's civic agency BMC
The BMC had listed 14 "violations" at Manikarnika Films, Ms Ranaut's movie production house in west Mumbai's Khar. The demolition work was stopped midway on Wednesday by an order from the Bombay High Court after she challenged the notice by the BMC.
The timing of the BMC's move against the actor has raised questions. Sharad Pawar, whose Nationalist Congress Party is part of Maharashtra's ruling alliance, has said the timing of the demolition was unfortunate and only generated "unnecessary publicity" for Kangana Ranaut.