While it's the norm for BJP leaders to criticise Jawaharlal Nehru, BJP MP Varun Gandhi had praised the first PM of India.

At an event in 2016, he was quoted saying by Times of India: "People think that Nehru became the first Prime Minister and lived a lavish life like a king, full of comfort and luxury. What they don't know is Nehru spent 15 and half years languishing in jail to become the country's first PM. If today someone puts me in jail and say that after 15 years, we will make you the PM, I will say, bhaiya maaf karo. aadmi ki jaan hi nikal jaaye (Brother, I regret! In 15 years, one may die)."

He had added that the youth of the nation should understand that Nehru sacrificed his life, family and bore wounds on his body to get the country free.

Recently, PM Modi criticised the first PM in Parliament. PM Modi while attacking the Gandhi family in Lok Sabha had said that if Sardar Patel had been the country's first prime minister, then a part of Jammu and Kashmir would not be in Pakistan's control, he said, claiming that most units of the Congress had backed Patel over Jawaharlal Nehru, who eventually became prime minister.

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"This is the same party that divided India. For decades, one party devoted all their energies in singing paeans to one family. The interests of the nation were over-looked just for the interests of one family," he said in his hard-hitting address.

He had added: “How can one of the leaders say India got a democracy due to Pandit Nehru and the Congress Party? Is this their reading of India's history? What arrogance is this. India did not get democracy due to Pandit Nehru, as Congress wants us to believe. Please look at our rich history. There are many examples of rich democratic traditions that date back centuries ago. Democracy is integral to this nation and is in our culture.”