Lucknow, Sep 14 (PTI) The BJP government is trying to break the unity of farmers protesting the centre's farm laws by using the name of freedom fighter Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, said the Congress accusing the ruling party of playing "casteist" politics.

The party's statement came on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Aligarh laid the foundation stone of a university, which will be named after the freedom fighter.

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Congress spokesperson Hilal here also said the freedom fighter had called the RSS fascist and struggled throughout his life against it.

In fact, in the 1957 Parliamentary elections, Raja Mahendra Pratap had not only defeated Atal Bihari Vajpayee but also ensured that his deposits were forfeited, the Congress leader said.

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"Troubled by the siege of farmers, the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi government in UP, instead of withdrawing the anti-farmer agricultural laws, want to break their unity by playing a casteist card by calling great revolutionary Raja Mahendra Pratap a Jat king," Hilal said .

The Congress spokesman said after laying the foundation stone of the university in Aligarh, PM Modi said the revolutionaries who were not honoured earlier are being given proper respect now.

But the BJP has remembered Raja Mahendra Pratap only now, just months before the Assembly polls, he said.

Had this foundation stone been laid a few years ago, the university would have been inaugurated today, he said.

In the eyes of the BJP, Hilal said, every great personality is just a "pawn" in its arithmetic of votes.

"The BJP's politics is contrary to the ideals of Raja Mahendra Pratap. The BJP has consistently harvested votes by making the Hindus and Muslims fight while Raja Mahendra Pratap wanted an India in which Hindus and Muslims live like brothers," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)