- Kangana Ranaut apologised to the Brazilian woman misused in Rahul Gandhi's allegation
- The woman, Larissa Nery, had denied any connection to Haryana elections or India visit
- Rahul Gandhi has said the woman appeared 22 times on Haryana's voter list
Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has apologised to the Brazilian woman who became the phase of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claims of 'vote-chori' in the Haryana Assembly election.
Addressing the Lok Sabha during the debate on electoral reforms, the Mandi MP said "every woman is entitled to her dignity" and slammed the Congress leader for using the Brazilian woman's photograph without her consent. "She has repeatedly said she has never come to India and has nothing to do with the Haryana polls. On behalf of this Parliament, I apologise to her. Violating personality rights is a big crime. I regret that her photo was used here," Ranaut said.
Targeting the Centre during the debate, Gandhi repeated his assertion that a "Brazilian woman" appeared "22 times" on Haryana's voter list. A photograph of the woman, later identified as Larissa Nery, was viral last month after Gandhi made the shocking allegation during a press meet. Her photograph was found to be a stock image available for download on several websites.
Nery, a hairdresser, had clarified in a social media video that the photograph was taken several years back, when she was 20. She had said she was not a model and posed for the photograph to help out a friend. The photographer had sought her permission to share the image online, and she had allowed it. Since then, her image has been used by thousands of publications as a representational image.
Ranaut said the Opposition has resorted to a "drama" over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to cleanse voter rolls. She said that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha kept digressing during his speech yesterday. "He said, 'khadi mein dhaage hain, dhaage mein log hain'. He was told to come to the point, and he replied that he is framing the argument. And eventually, he went back to that woman," she said.
Ranaut said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought many women-centric measures. "PM doesn't hack EVMs, he hacks hearts," he said.
She also targeted Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and questioned how her mother and veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi allegedly cast her vote before becoming a citizen. The BJP has made this allegation earlier, and Priyanka Gandhi trashed the charge as an "absolute lie".
