Modi blasts regional parties for bid to form grand alliance

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called the efforts of regional parties to form a grand alliance as 'maha-milawat'. Remembering Ram Manohar Lohia on his 109th birth anniversary, Modi wrote in a blog that the socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia would be 'horrified' as most of these regional parties claim to be his followers.

"Today those parties that falsely claim to be Lohia's followers are desperate to form an opportunistic 'maha-milawat' or adulteration alliances with the same Congress (which Lohia opposed). It is both ironical and reprehensible," he alleged. The Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal-Secular, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal, which will merge with the RJD after the Lok Sabha polls, were some of the parties formed on socialist ideology.

Meanwhile, praising the NDA government for following his ideology, Modi wrote, "Lohia's thoughts inspire us. He wrote about modernising agriculture and empowering farmers, which the NDA government is effectively doing through efforts such as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Krishi Sinchai Yojana, e-Nam, Soil Health Cards and more."

Noting that anti-Congressism was Lohia's "heart and soul", Modi said the Congress "trembled with fear" whenever Lohia spoke. "Those parties that claim inspiration from Lohia have completely abandoned his principles. They are leaving no opportunity to insult him… 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 wrote. Hitting out at the Congress, Modi said, Lohia had once claimed that during the Congress regime neither agriculture and industry nor the Army improved. "These words can accurately describe even subsequent Congress regimes, where farmers were harassed, industry was discouraged (except if they belonged to friends and relatives of Congress leaders) and national security was ignored," the PM wrote in the blog.