Taking the intolerance debate a step further, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi led a march of party leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan protesting against intolerance.
The party has appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee to use his constitutional powers to end the “atmosphere of intolerance”.
The party submitted the memorandum to the President and Party Chief Sonia Gandhi addressed the media saying,”The events taking place are a well-thought out strategy to divide society: Sonia Gandhi at protest march against rising intolerance in India.”
Slamming the protest march by Congress, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar sad that Congress is an epitome of intolerance and they should apologise to the nation for their deeds.
Members of the Congress Working Committee, AICC General Secretaries and office-bearers and party MPs were part of the delegation meeting the President, who had repeatedly sought to underline need to preserve India’s core values of diversity, tolerance, and plurality of Indian civilisation.
The move by the opposition party came in the backdrop of protests by artistes, writers and scientists over alleged “rising intolerance” reflected in the Dadri lynching, beef row and other such incidents. Two days ago, Sonia had expressed her concern over rising intolerance and had vowed to fight the “diabolical design” of divisive forces to spread hatred which, she said, posed a threat to the unity of the country. “Organisations and people of a particular ideology are spreading it to divide people. We are under no illusion that it is an accident. The hate, violence and petty mindedness is being unleashed as part of a pre-determined plan,” Sonia said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had said that Congress cannot lecture on tolerance and it should after 1984 anti-Sikh riots where thousands were massacred.
On the eve of the Congress march, Sonia had a meeting with President Mukherjee, but it was described as a courtesy call by the AICC. Sonia had sought a meeting with the President after she could not attend a banquet hosted by him for African leaders last week due to indisposition. Sonia had led a march of Opposition leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan during the Budget Session earlier this year to protest against the controversial land ordinance which was dubbed by the Congress as “anti-farmer” and “pro-corporate”.