BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday slammed one of his party's biggest supporters - actor Kangana Ranaut - for her comments that India attained its true freedom in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected to power and what it got in 1947 after decades of struggle by freedom fighters was "bheekh." (handout).
Gandhi, who has lately been voicing his opinions and taking stands diverging from his party lines, uploaded a short video clip of Kangana's comments at an event organised by TV news channel Times Now in which she can be heard saying in Hindi, "That was not freedom but bheekh, and the real freedom came in 2014."
Kangana, who was bestowed with the fourth highest civilian honour --the Padma Shri award by PM Modi's government this month, was understood to have been referring to the Modi and BJP's rise to power in 2014.
The actor who stands banned on social media platform Twitter over her provocative right-leaning comments has sparked several controversy in the past.
Lashing out at her, Varun Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, "Insulting the sacrifice of Mahatma Gandhi sometimes, praising his killer sometimes, and now the disdain for the sacrifices of Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmibai, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and lakhs of freedom fighters. Should I call this thinking madness or treason?"
Last month, Varun Gandhi alongside his mother and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi were axed from BJP's National Executive after the former demanded justice for the families of farmers killed in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri violence and publicly came out in support of other farmers protesting the centre's new farm laws.
Members of the Nehru-Gandhi family that runs the Congress party, Varun Gandhi and his mother joined forces with the BJP in 2004 just months before the party was ousted from power. The mother-son duo is however, believed to have lost the favour of the leadership in recent years.
