Rakhi Sawant and Kangana Ranaut are once again in the limelight for taking a dig at each other. The two were seen trading barbs when Rakhi questioned Kangana’s rise in politics.

Rakhi Sawant, known for her unfiltered demeanour, made suggestive remarks about Kangana’s political career on a podcast hosted by Mohsin Khan.

“Modi ji, what have these Smriti, Kangana and all these women given you that you made them ministers? So whatever they gave you, I can also give you,” said Sawant, including Smriti Irani in her comments.

When asked what she was referring to, Sawant replied, “What? Love! Big respect!” She added, “These people gave respect; I will also give you respect, Modi ji,” while making suggestive gestures.

Her comments drew criticism as she insinuated that women in politics further their careers by providing sexual favours.

Many people pointed out that these words risked generalising women in politics, particularly as she singled out two female members of the party.

Kangana Hits Back at Rakhi’s Political Jibe

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP from Mandi lashed out at the remarks on her Instagram Stories.

Kangana reacted, “Not just her but most unsuccessful and bitter people are quick to character lynch successful women to satisfy and justify their jealousy/envy, failures and ego but high time we stop being vulnerable to such frequent, intentional attacks and public character assassination; we must stop feeling humiliated and hurt and stop over-explaining ourselves.”

Known to be very outspoken against such attacks, she said, “So yes my loves!! Even you are ready to do everything for success, but guess what!! Unfortunately, no one needs anything from you.”

Remember, all your favours combined never got you even a sweeper’s job; even that needs some quality and talent, so rest assured, favours or no favours, you aren’t going anywhere, so sit down, watch my reels and keep crying, Kangana added.

This also highlights an underlying issue many female politicians face when they advance in their career.

Perpetuating such attitudes can affect future politicians by reinforcing the idea that their achievements can be reduced to personal or sexual favours rather than their work and qualifications.

A History of Public Clashes

This isn’t the first time both have had a go at each other. The two had an altercation earlier this year, when the BJP MP called Gen Z student protesters “Generation Gutter”.

The actress strongly criticised the protest led by the Cockroach Janata Party. She even called the protest videos “puke-inducing.”

Rakhi reacted to these statements by calling Kangana a “chudail” and a “gutter mouth”. She questioned, “What kind of things are you saying about the girls of our country? What are you saying about my students, about the daughters of our nation?”

The former Bigg Boss contestant even pointed to an earlier incident in 2024 where Kangana was slapped at Chandigarh airport.

A CISF constable had slapped her during a security check, reportedly over her statements regarding the farmers’ protest.

“You had faced a slap incident at the airport, didn’t you? Aren’t you afraid? You will face people’s anger everywhere if you continue like this,” Sawant asked.

In 2021, Rakhi Sawant had slammed Kangana over her ‘real freedom’ remarks.

In a video, Kangana was seen saying, “Freedom got through begging is not real freedom. We achieved real freedom in 2014,” criticising Congress and the independence movement in 1947.

While she later defended her statement, citing she did not disrespect the freedom fighters, she still stood strongly by what she said.

Rakhi responded to this by sharing an edited clip of Kangana speaking. The clip replaced her voice with the sound of dogs barking. She captioned the post “Desh ki Gaddar hai didi”, and the video instantly became viral.

What began as a podcast remark has now become another public spat between the two women. The exchange has put a spotlight on how women in politics are often spoken about.

It is also deeply troubling that both continue to use derogatory words and comments at each other, often at the expense of all women.