Intolerance being encouraged in India; President has spoken but PM silent: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul on Tuesday led the party's leaders and MPs in a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan in protest against "growing intolerance" in the country, accusing the Modi government of "unleashing a sinister campaign" to create social and communal tension.

After leading the march from Parliament, Sonia handed over a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his intervention in checking such incidents which are causing social divide.

The 125-member delegation included senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge.

The move by the main 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.

Talkiing to reporters later, Sonia said, "Congress delegation met the President of India and have handed over to a memorandum to him. Intolerance is being encouraged in this country, we will fight this atmosphere tooth and nail. Although the President of India has spoken his mind, yet the PM is completely silent on these incidents."

"The incidents taking place are part of a well-thought out strategy to divide our society," she added.

Also Read: BJP calls Congress march 'political stunt'

On his part Rahul said, "Large number of people have made it very clear that they are unhappy with the way this government views this country. This is not the matter of Congress party, this is matter of the people of this country. The Finance Minister of this country says nothing is going on, may be he should go to the villages and see whats going on."

"A minister of this government has compared two innocent people burnt to death with dogs," he added.

The official twitter handle of Congress posted the memorandum submitted to President:

Text of the memorandum submitted by Congress President Smt Sonia Gandhi to Hon'ble President Shri Pranab Mukherji pic.twitter.com/UnJJRVUN4g — INC India (@INCIndia) November 3, 2015

Also Read: Galaxy of leaders speak against intolerance

Also Read: Sonia Gandhi meets President over 'intolerance'

Meanwhile, BJP and Congress had on Monday locked horns over the issue of intolerance in the society, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the Congress president had no moral right to lecture the NDA on tolerance and it should "hang its head in shame" for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots where thousands were massacred.

Also Read: PM Modi rakes up 1984 riots as debate over intolerance rages

Congress had hit back, contending like in 2002 post-Godhra violence, Modi has "forgotten Rajdharma" in 2015 too as he was an "endorser of intolerance by his studied silence" over acts of hate and violence.

(With PTI inputs)