Poet Kumar Vishwas has sparked a fresh controversy with remarks at actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha and his daughter, actress Sonakshi Sinha.
Speaking at a poetry event in Meerut, Vishwas, without taking names, said, "Apne bachhon ko Sita Ji ki behnon aur Bhagwan Ram ke bhaiyon ke naam yaad karaiye. Ek sanket de raha hoon, jo samajh jayein unki taliyan uthtein. Apne bachhon ko Ramayan padhwayi aur Geeta sunwayi. Anya tha aisa na ho ki aapke ghar ka naam to 'Ramayan' ho aur aapke ghar ki Shree Lakshmi ko koi aur uthakar le jaye." (Teach your children about Ramayana. Otherwise, it might so happen that while your house is named 'Ramayana', someone else might take away your household's 'Lakshmi'.)
For context, Shatrughan Sinha's house is named "Ramayana" while his daughter Sonakshi got married to Zaheer Iqbal on June 23 this year.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate strongly criticized Vishwas, calling his remarks "cheap" and "lewd."
In a lengthy X post, she slammed the poet for making derogatory comments about women to earn applause.
"If you have a daughter at home, would you make cheap comments about someone else's daughter to earn applause? Just think about how low you've stooped," she wrote in Hindi.
"Kumar Vishwas Ji, not only did you make a disgusting remark about Sonakshi Sinha's interfaith marriage, but you also exposed your true feelings about women. Your words 'Otherwise someone else will take your Lakshmi from your house'--is a girl just an object that can be taken away? How long will people like you continue to see a woman as the property of her father and then her husband?" she added.
"The foundation of marriage and companionship is equality, mutual trust, and love. No one is taken away like that, and in 2024 India, you are questioning someone's upbringing just because they chose to marry on their own? Doesn't a girl have the right to marry whoever she wants? Will self-proclaimed guardians of religion decide who a girl will marry, what she eats, what she wears, or who she loves? Questions about upbringing should not even arise when your own bouncers beat up an esteemed doctor. This is your fault if your staff behaves like this under your watch," she further said.