Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament and actress Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday, 10 November made a series of sharp accusations against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi via multiple Instagram posts, calling her a 'mysterious foreign national' and alleging that the deaths of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi conveniently left Sonia as the sole heir to political power. The posts came amid the ongoing political discourse surrounding the release of Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.

What Kangana Alleged

Ranaut, in her first Instagram Story, cited research she claimed to have conducted for her film Emergency as the basis for her remarks. She wrote: 'Every one is talking about NVIDIA honey trap controversy, for Emergency I did a lot of research on Indian politics and Gandhi family and I must confess that one thing I could never wrap my head around is that one mysterious foreign national enters Gandhi family and Indira Gandhi killed, Sanjay Gandhi Rajeev Gandhi all potential heirs to the throne killed leaving just one and only sympathy choice for the throne that one foreign national called Sonia Gandhi and people didn’t even think there were way too many coincidences also that foreigner notoriously and openly propagated foreign agendas shed crocodile tears for terrorists, yet she managed to head the government for decades until of course 2014 happened (sic).'

Ranaut framed the sequence of events as having 'way too many coincidences', though she stopped short of presenting any evidence for her claims. These are allegations made by Ranaut; they have not been independently verified.

Maneka Gandhi and the 1982 Departure

In a follow-up Instagram post, Ranaut accused Sonia Gandhi of engineering the removal of Maneka Gandhi from the Prime Minister's residence. She wrote: 'a vulnerable teenage girl Maneka who Sanjay Gandhi married and loved like crazy, after his death his young widow with their son was thrown out of his house for random reasons as mentioned by Sonia Gandhi, she was out of the way just before every one else was to get killed, how convenient! (sic).'

Historically, in March 1982, Maneka Gandhi left the Prime Minister's residence on Safdarjung Road, New Delhi, with her young son Varun Gandhi, approximately two years after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. The circumstances of her departure have been a matter of public record and political debate for decades.

Reaction to Archival Footage

Prior to the memoir's release, archival footage of the Gandhi family — reportedly showing members sharing a meal and discussing election results — was made public. Reacting to the clip on social media, Ranaut alleged that Maneka Gandhi appeared 'sidelined' following her husband's death, while others in the family appeared to defer to Sonia Gandhi.

In a later post, Ranaut wrote: 'Even in the end of the clip every one leaves but Maneka stays looking at Mrs Gandhi like a wounded little child seeking some comfort may be a little smile or a gaze in her direction, she stays hoping for one sign but nothing comes only coldness and slowly she disappears like she is there but doesn’t exist. Heartbreaking! (sic).' She repeated her allegation that Sanjay Gandhi's death and Maneka's subsequent removal preceded the deaths of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.

Context: Emergency and Ranaut's Political Role

Ranaut, who directed and starred in Emergency — a film centred on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 1975 Emergency period — has frequently drawn on the film's research to comment on the Gandhi family's political history. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh in the 2024 general elections on a BJP ticket.

Sonia Gandhi's office had not issued a formal response to Ranaut's allegations at the time of publication. All claims made in Ranaut's posts are attributed solely to her and remain unverified allegations.