‘I didn’t support India’—Barsa corrects her words after controversial interview

KATHMANDU, May 25: Actress Barsa Raut admitted it was her “wrong choice of vocabulary” that brought her to a huge controversy and explained she neither meant to support India nor offend the journalists of Nepali media.

The 26-year-old actress became a clown among public and social media users after she, in an interview, accused the journalists of both Nepali and India media of exaggerating the border row to invite “fight” between the two neighbors, and even expressed shame “how she would face her Indian friends in this situation”.

At a time when the entire public is celebrating Nepal’s May 18 landmark move to release the revised administrative map of Nepal incorporating the encroached territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, the controversial comments of the actress of superhit comedy drama Chhaka Panja put her in an awkward position in front of the Nepali people’s anti-Indian sentiments.

The public had already had enough of India’s big-brother attitude after India in November last year released its new political map including these three Nepal owned territories inside its border, which was followed by India’s “unilateral act” of opening a 79-kilometer long link road to Mansarovar via Lipulekh.

Raut’s unfortunate interview also came days after Bollywood based Nepalese actress Manisha Koirala– who was born in the politically prominent Koirala family–earned heart across Nepal for supporting Nepal’s move for new Map in a tweet here.

Raut was trolled by social media users who took their anger to Twitter, Facebook and Tiktok, some even asking India to take Barsa Raut and return Nepalese territories.

“I spoke in favor of Nepal in the entire interview. But the 15-second time frame where I chose the wrong words really hurt the sentiments of the Nepali people… and I beg my apologies for that,” said Raut in a television interview Janata Janna Chahanchan.

“I am a daughter of Nepali and I always love my motherland. I have never supported India,” she added.

Raut clarified she had tried to stress on the ancient old relation between India and Nepal when she used the words friends.

“But I could not express my feeling correctly through the words…which made a negative impression among the public,” she said.

“What I meant was that the border row should be resolved through diplomatic efforts so that the bilateral relationship between the two countries continue to remain positive.”

“My priority is always Nepal and Nepali people. I would never hurt the sentiments of Nepali people,” she added.

When inquired about her accusations on journalists, she said, she only targeted some media who influence people negatively.

“The Indian media have been producing contents related to Nepali lands based on fake claims, which is condemnable. Likewise, some Nepali media are creating false and bad impression on the public. I am against them. I never meant to offend the journalists.”

“Some of these channels have now been blocked in the Youtube now,” she added.