New Delhi: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das have traded sharp barbs as the controversy over the actor-politician's remarks describing Gen Z as "Generation gutter" escalated.
Ranaut on Tuesday sparked a political row by posting strongly-worded Instagram Stories targeting the CJP-led agitation over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.
Responding to Ranaut's posts, Das said her language was unbecoming and questioned her mental stability while accusing her of trying to "ride the CJP wave".
Also read: Kangana Ranaut on NEET Protest: BJP MP calls CJP demonstrators 'filth' and 'garbage'
The MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi dismissed him as "totally useless and unemployed".
"These words don't seem to be of a person who is mentally stable because you wouldn't use this kind of language about the young. If there is a young person in your family who belongs to Gen Z or Gen Alpha or whatever, would you use such language against them?" he told PTI Videos.
Das also took a swipe at Ranaut's performance as a parliamentarian.
"I don't have much to say about Kangana Ranaut, her own party members don't take her seriously. There are videos of her from her constituency where she is meeting people and telling them, 'Aap log to bohat kaam karate ho. Mujhe to laga tha ki MP banke zyaada kaam nahi hoga. Lekin yaha par to mujhe roz kaam karna pad raha hai.' So that's the kind of seriousness with which she sees her own work," he said.
"It's fine, I think she is trying to ride the CJP wave. We said this before, anybody who wants to take credit or fame from the current movement, they are free to do so and so is Kangana," he added.
Ranaut responded through a new post on Instagram Stories.
"I just googled this person and he is 28 years old. And he claims to be a student. How he claims to be a student I have no clue!!" she wrote.
Hitting back at Das' criticism of her work as an MP, Ranaut said she may be new to politics but had been in public life for the past 20 years.
"At his age, I had two National Awards. Yes, as a new parliamentarian, I was overwhelmed with all the work because I am also a filmmaker, performing artist, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur. But someone like him, who is totally useless and unemployed, will never understand what it means to be in massive demand at all times, at any age," she said.
"Dear Saurav, your issues are personal. You are not a student; you are simply useless. Let's start with learning some skill. It's a good place to start," she added.
The exchange comes a day after Ranaut referred to young protesters as "Generation gutter" and questioning "who is birthing and raising them".
"Never in my life I have seen so much ugliness in one place, these reels from GenZ protests are puke inducing, the way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life I have seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at ones, ewwww who is birthing and raising them?" Ranaut said.
In a follow-up post, the BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi went a step further and criticised young women who participated in the protests, saying their behaviour during the agitation was "most appalling".
