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Updated: Mar 23, 2019 22:18 IST

Opposition parties on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for suggesting that political parties, other than the Bharatiya janata Party (BJP), were betraying the principles of freedom fighter and socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia.

“I wonder which principles are being spoken of. The BJP seems to be schizophrenic. On the one hand, they try to co-opt Gandhiji, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel, Dr Ambedkar and Dr Lohia and, on the other hand, they follow people who these leaders opposed and disagreed with,” tweeted Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav. Claiming that he was the inheritor of Lohia’s legacy, Akhilesh said only the SP was working towards his principles.

Lohia is the Samajwadi Party ideologue and its governments have named several projects, including its flagship Lohia housing scheme and Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Lucknow, after him. Lohia won Kannauj’s first Lok Sabha election in 1967.

Insisting that “anti-Congressism” was in Lohia’s heart, Modi wrote in his blog, “Today those parties that falsely claim to be Dr Lohia’s followers are desperate to form an opportunistic Maha Milawat alliances with the same Congress. It is both ironical and reprehensible.”

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a ceremony at Ram Manohar Lohia Park on Lohia’s birth anniversary, Akhilesh said: “The Prime Minister’s blog is a big post. He should not tell us about Lohia. Samajwadis have inherited the legacy of Lohia. I take pride that I inherited Lohia’s constituency (Kannauj) and now Dimple (Kannauj MP and his wife) has it. PM has nothing to do with socialism. When the BJP got an opportunity, it squandered it and did not do any good work. We never saw such a liar government. We don’t need any lecture from the BJP on the principles of Dr Lohia.”

Akhilesh termed Modi’s invocation of Lohia as an election gimmick.

The Congress also reacted angrily to the PM’s blog. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not know history. He is not fit to comment on Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Yes, Dr Lohia would have been sad to see a dictator demolishing all established institutions. This PM only talks and does not do anything for people’s welfare,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee media co-ordinator Rajiv Bakshi.

YOGI TARGETS SP

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath targeted the SP for claiming to be a follower of Lohia and still tying up with the Congress. “Those who claim to be the inheritors of the political lineage of Dr Lohia are now fully immersed in corruption and dynastic politics. Those who cheated Dr Lohia won’t be able to cheat the people of the country,” Adityanath tweeted.