The opposition parties in poll-bound Assam have slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for referring to 17th century Ahom general Lachit Borphukan as a freedom fighter.

He took Borphukan’s name along with others who “contributed to the independence of the country” at a function to launch the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ on March 12. The programme commemorated 75 years of India’s independence from British rule.

Borphukan had in 1671 led the Ahoms in the Battle of Saraighat, considered the greatest naval battle on a river, to victory over the Mughals. He died in April 1672, almost two centuries before the Indian freedom movement had begun.

The newly-floated Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) demanded an apology from the Prime Minister for the historical blunder.

“The Prime Minister may either be ignorant or a ploy to get political mileage in Assam ahead of the Assembly elections. We want to remind him that Assam was a sovereign country for more than 600 years from 1228-1826. The people of Assam revere Lachit Borphukan for thwarting the Mughal invasion,” said AJP general secretary and former BJP leader Jagadish Bhuyan said in a statement on March 13.

“Statements not based on facts is not expected from a Prime Minister,” he added.

“The Prime Minister should own up his mistake, deliberate or otherwise. No one has the right to insult a community, a State and its legendary figures,” Congress leader Bobbeeta Sharma said.