# Rahul Gandhi backs Kriti Sanon as Kangana Ranaut slams Rakhi ad outfit 2026-08-25T15:24:37+00:00 | Entertainment | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets (4 source reports) Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has backed actor Kriti Sanon after she faced online backlash over her outfit in a Raksha Bandhan advertisement for a jewellery brand. Sharing Sanon's statement on Instagram, Gandhi wrote, 'What a woman wears, what she does and where she goes, is her choice. Stop trolling women for exercising their freedom.' The ad shows Sanon in an ivory bralette-style blouse and skirt, tying a rakhi to her brother and her pet dog. BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut criticised the ad as 'intentionally creepy', questioning Sanon's choice of a bikini-like outfit for the festival. Sanon responded by saying culture and traditions are in the heart, not the neckline, and asked when society will stop judging women by their clothes. Her sister Nupur Sanon also defended her, urging trolls to 'evolve' and noting that she herself has no issue with what Kriti wears. ## Indian Opinion Analysis All four sources report the Raksha Bandhan ad controversy as a straight news story, quoting Kriti Sanon's defence of her outfit, Kangana Ranaut's criticism, and Rahul Gandhi's intervention without adding editorial colour. The uniform framing suggests the outlets treated this as a celebrity culture debate rather than a political flashpoint, despite Gandhi's involvement as LoP. The central disagreement remains whether clothing choices during traditional festivals reflect cultural respect or personal freedom, a question likely to resurface with every high-profile ad campaign during religious holidays. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 3 neutral - news.abplive.com (neutral report) Straight report of the ad backlash, Sanon's and Ranaut's statements. - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Reports Rahul Gandhi's support and the wider debate with no slant. - indiatoday.in (2) (neutral report) Covers the ad controversy, Gandhi's intervention and Ranaut's criticism factually. - timesnownews.com This story was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 4 sources. Last updated 2026-08-25T15:33:14+00:00. Tags: Kangana Ranaut, Kriti Sanon, Nupur Sanon, Rahul Gandhi, Raksha Bandhan Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/kriti-sanon-backed-by-rahul-gandhi-amid-raksha-bandhan-ad-row/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/kriti-sanon-backed-by-rahul-gandhi-amid-raksha-bandhan-ad-row/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/