Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (1910–67) may arguably be reckoned as the most unconventional and, may be original as well, theoretician amongst the Indian socialists given his penchant for ‘New Socialism’. Called a ‘doctrinal socialist’ (Appadorai 2002: 311), indeed, it appeared to be his passion to liberate the theory of socialism from the shackles of theory and practice of Marxism and International Communism. Interestingly, Lohia sought to provide a new and unique dimension to socialism by attuning it to the needs and aspirations of the developing countries like India by incorporating within it certain elements of even capitalism which, he averred, has facilitated a subtle improvement in the standard of lives of the working class and its conversion into the middle class in Europe (Lohia 1963: 6). In other words, the creditable contribution of Lohia to the body of socialist thought1 in India seems to be improvising the notion by ingraining in it numerous related intellectual precepts with the purpose of ensuring its cent percent suitability to the imperatives of the Indian circumstances.