Patna: President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday called socialist leader and freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia "Sant Kabir" of Indian politics who had the courage to leave everything to remain steadfast on his beliefs, while chief minister Nitish Kumar demanded that a movie should be made on him (Lohia) so that the younger generation could take inspiration from his life.

Both of them were speaking at the fourth Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Memorial Lecture at ITM University in Gwalior. While Kovind was the chief guest and the main speaker, Nitish presided over the function.

"Lohia dedicated his life to people's welfare and struggled relentlessly for the deprived sections of society. For Dr Lohia, the definition of weaker sections of the society included Dalits, tribals, women and backward castes," said Kovind.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and several others were present at the event.

Nitish said Lohia quit the Congress and united the opposition after Independence and played a leading role in the liberation of Goa from Portugal.

"Lohia was against any kind of discrimination be it related to apartheid, caste, class, or high and low. He started agitations against them. The saptkranti (revolution in seven fields) advocated by Lohia was the same as Jayaprakash Narayan's Sampoorn Kranti or total revolution," Nitishsaid.

Later, Nitish addressed a meeting of social activists and natives of Bihar at the Madhya Pradesh Chamber of Commerce. He also paid respects at Gurudwara Data Bandi Chhod at Gwalior, where he was honoured with a saropa (blessed cloth) and a memento.

Earlier in the day, the Bihar chief minister was present with the President, at a function in which Gwalior was declared a "Divyang-friendly district" (disabled-friendly district) and distributed artificial limbs at Jiwaji University at Gwalior.

Nitish returned to Patna late on Sunday evening.