Sonia meets Pranab, accuses Modi government of ‘sinister campaign’

NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday took to the streets and led a march of its top leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the climate of growing intolerance in the country and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “endorsing” incidents of hate.

Covering a distance of more than a kilometre from the Gandhi statue in Parliament to the Presidential estate on the Raisina Hill, Sonia led a delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee and handed over a memorandum against “fear, intolerance and pressure tactics” orchestrated by some organisations.

“Whatever incidents are happening in the country today are part of a well thoughtout strategy being adopted deliberately to divide our society,” she told reporters quoting from the memorandum given to the President.

The Congress president said what was happening in the country was a matter of deep concern to every Indian and the President has already made clear his views on them.

“But the prime minister is silent. It clearly indicates that he endorses all these incidents,” said Sonia, who was flanked by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, leaders of the party in Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides Rahul Gandhi and A. K.Antony.

Sonia said some outfits linked to the government and some of them part of the government are indulging in acts that are an assault on the multi-coloured culture and fundamental ideas of the society and are fuelling intolerance.