Lukšič responded to Janša's announced attendance at Sunday's ceremony in the village of Rovte as he spoke to the press to mark the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes on 23 August.

The head of the coalition Social Democrats (SD) summarised Slovenia's experience with such regimes, saying that Slovenia is a country which always knew how to deal with totalitarianisms.

The SD has a problem however with the abuse of various remembrance days for political purposes, Lukšič said, noting that the National Assembly was acquainted in 2009 with the European Parliament's resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism.

The Janez Janša government adopted a decision in 2012 at a correspondence session that 23 August be marked as a day of remembrance for the victims of totalitarian regimes, added Lukšič.

According to him, this day is now used in Slovenia as some sort of a right wing holiday, when the values of anti-communism are not the only thing that is celebrated. "The problem with the Slovenian right is that it went over the edge of anti-communism to pro-fascism," Lukšič said.

He added that celebrating the controversial Slovenian anti-communist and pro-Nazi Domobranci (Home Guard) movement is a "step over the line and should draw protest from the entire democratic public in Slovenia as well as Europe".

Lukšič noted that it was the first time that a strong parliamentary party is participating in a remembrance ceremony for the Domobranci movement.

The SDS said in a response on Twitter that it is not reviving the memory of Domobranci, adding that it is "remembering the victims which fell also because of the collaboration between the red star and swastika."

The party moreover tweeted that the left parties also celebrate totalitarian regimes, posting among others a photo of Lukšič at a concert of the Pinko Tomažič Partisan Choir in Ljubljana' Stožice Arena with a Partisan flag in the background.

According to Lukšič, this is not about a classical ideological fight, but about "supporting a part of the Nazi Army for taking the side of the occupiers and collaborators, the side of betrayal of the Slovenian people".

Lukšič called on those who opted in 1941 to fight against the [Partisans-led] National Liberation Movement "not to repeat the same mistakes in 2013", urging Janša's Democrats (SDS) not to "intensify the conflict".

According to Lukšič, whose SD developed from the former Communist Party of Slovenia, Janša's SDS is radicalising its positions and views because the right wing is losing its power in Europe.

A strong response to the exchange came from opposition People's Party (SLS) president Franc Bogovič, who said that idealogical rhetoric provocations that are polarising Slovenia need to be taken off the agenda, as they are but a clog in the country's development.

Bogovič was critical of what he sees as empty and contradictory talk by Lukšič and of Lukšič failing to distinguish between the right political pole in Slovenia and one single party.

Slovenia does not need politicking, whose aim is to abuse "conflicts that are more than 60 years old - neither on the left nor on the right where the SDS likes to play rhetorical ideological ping-pong with the SD".

The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) meanwhile said on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes that Slovenia should condemn the crimes committed by all three totalitarian regimes.

"This is the only way to make a step forward in the understanding of history and national reconciliation," the party said in a press release, calling the authorities to secure proper grave sites for all victims of totalitarian systems.