Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his charge that the opposition had forgotten the principles of veteran socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia.
The socialist ideologue’s birth anniversary was celebrated on Saturday.
The SP chief termed the BJP “schizophrenic” and said the saffron party tries to co-opt icons like Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia but follows people who these leaders disagreed with.
Akhilesh defended his position saying, “We have relentlessly worked for defending Lohia’s legacy and the SP is the only party working on his principles.’’
On the occasion of 109th birth anniversary of Dr Lohia, the Prime Minister, in a blog, took a jibe at the opposition saying that “they believe in ‘satta, swarth and shoshan’ (power, selfishness and exploitation) and are experts in grabbing power”.
Modi also said that the moot question facing 130 crore Indians was, 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,” Modi said.
Reacting to Modi’s jibe in Lucknow on Saturday, , Akhilesh said, “We don’t need lecture on principles of Dr Lohia from Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the BJP. Many people have deflected from the principles of Lohia. Perhaps we are the only party which is constantly working on Lohia’s principles.’’
The SP chief also accused the BJP of trying to hide behind the issue of nationalism merely to deflect questions raised by the people.
“There are no jobs for the youth of the country. The BJP is trying to hide behind ‘nationalism’ instead of answering people’s questions. People are closely watching everything and will give them a befitting reply in the election. Also, posters of BSP chief Mayawatiji and me were burnt by BJP people in Barabanki on Holika. This only shows their mindset towards Dalits and Backwards of the country,” Akhilesh said.
Addressing a meeting of SP leaders to commemorate Lohia’s birth anniversary, Akhilesh said, “The BJP cannot dictate what the people want and decide as to who is a nationalist and who is not.”
