New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday said their march to the Rashtrapati Bhawan was an attempt on their behalf to show the nation who was behind the stoking of communal flames, and warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his 'silence' was encouraging communal tendencies in the nation.
"It's time for the Prime Minister to realise that things are not in this control anymore. His silence on the attack on Dalits and the minorities is encouraging communal tendencies. It has in fact led to a situation where the intellectuals in the society are now protesting without fear against this," Congress leader PC Chacko told ANI.
He added that it was high time the Prime Minister realised his own folly and fixes his ways or else his short-sightedness is going to affect his own government.
Congress leader Rashid Alvi said their march to the President today was important as it was their responsibility to show to the nation who was responsible for fanning communal flames in the nation.
"There are some people who want to set fire to the nation and stoke communal flames and it is our responsibility to douse those flames and tell the people who are trying to destroy the nation. That is why it is so important make the president aware about the tense situation of the nation," Alvi told ANI.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi will lead a march of party leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan today to appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee to end the "atmosphere of intolerance".
The march comes in the wake of the rising chorus of protests by artistes, filmmakers, writers and scientists over the rising intolerance in the nation reflected in the Dadri lynching, beef row and the killing of noted Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi.
Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had raked up the 1984 riots and attacked the Congress saying that they had no right to lecture on 'tolerance' with the blood on the massacre on their hands.
The Congress in response saying that the Prime Minister who 'engineered' the Godhra riots was the every example of intolerance ergo he was not qualified to comment on it.
