Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out at the Opposition’s efforts to cobble together a federal front as he remembered Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary.

Borrowing from Lohia’s ideas, Modi said the “prolific thinker knew how disastrous Congress was” and it was ironic that “those parties that falsely claim to be Dr Lohia’s followers are desperate to form an opportunistic Maha Milawat or adulteration alliances with the same Congress”.

“Anti-Congressism was Dr Lohia’s heart and soul. His efforts ensured a shock to the then all-powerful Congress in 1967 elections. That time, Atal Ji remarked- “Due to Dr. Lohia’s efforts, one could travel on board the Howrah-Amritsar Mail without having to pass a single Congress state!” he wrote in his blog, adding, “Unfortunately, today Dr. Lohia would be horrified at the political developments taking place.”

The Prime Minister said the NDA government was following Lohia’s thoughts and ideals with programmes such as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Krishi Sinchai Yojana, e-Nam, Soil Health Cards and more.

“Nothing pained Dr. Lohia more than the caste hierarchy and inequality between women and men. Our Mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as well as our track record in the last five years show that we have made a long-lasting contribution in fulfilling the vision of Dr. Lohia. He would surely have been very proud of the NDA Government’s work,” Modi said.

“Dr. Lohia always believed that dynastic politics was inimical to democracy. He would have been flabbergasted to see his ‘followers’ think about their own families first instead of the nation,” he said.

Hitting out at the Opposition, he said “the parties that claim to be his followers forgot this principle. They believe in ‘Satta’, ‘Swarth’ and ‘Shoshan.’ These parties are experts at grabbing power, looting as much as possible and exploiting others. Poor people, Tribals, Dalits, OBCs and women are not safe in their rule because these parties give a free run to criminals and anti-social elements”.

“In his works, Dr. Lohia called for complete equality between men and women. But, neck deep in vote bank politics, it was parties that dishonestly claim to be Dr. Lohia’s followers that opposed the NDA Government’s move to abolish the inhuman practice of Triple Talaq,” he added.

The Prime Minister said a moot question facing 130 crore Indians is: How can those who betrayed Dr. Lohia be expected to serve the nation? “Today they are betraying the principles of Dr. Lohia, tomorrow they will also betray the people of India”.