IANS/New Delhi

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday dubbed the Congress march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan against intolerance a “political stunt” and said it was meant to keep its “dynastic” leadership relevant.
Calling the Congress an “epitome of intolerance”, BJP spokesman and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar denounced the march led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
“The Congress is the epitome of intolerance. They had turned the country into a jail during Emergency,” he said.
“During that period, intolerance was rampant when thousands of poor Muslims were forcibly sterilised. This is the worst kind of intolerance,” said Javadekar.
“Sikhs were butchered and massacred (after then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984)... Three thousand Sikhs were butchered in Delhi by Congress goons. Then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi justified it.”
He said the killing of writer M M Kalburgi was a heinous crime, and it took place in Congress-ruled Karnataka.
“Narendra Dabholkar’s murder happened in Maharashtra when the Congress and NCP were in power. When Govind Pansare was murdered, it was the BJP government which within three months found out the culprit and arrested him. We are taking action.”
Referring to the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh on suspicion that he ate beef, he said it was “the most deplorable incident”, but said it took place in a Samajwadi Party-ruled state.
“The Congress should take out a procession against them and dismiss the Karnataka chief minister. They should apologise for not tracing the murderers of Dabholkar.”
Another BJP spokesman, M J Akbar, described the march as an attempt by a “failing dynasty” to maintain its relevance.
“This is a desperate attempt by a desperately failing dynasty... They are staging a fake drama because of the truth that is coming out on their corruption.”
“The Congress is the enemy of social harmony and economic progress,” Akbar said.
Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said: “They (Congress) have lost the people’s confidence and are trying to stay relevant. How can a party that imposed Emergency talk about intolerance?”
Earlier in the day Congress leaders marched from Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against what they said was rising intolerance in the country.
The party submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “silence” against the forces of “prejudice, bigotry and intolerance” and urged the president to use the authority of his office to tell him that “this is unacceptable”.
The Congress said in the memorandum that the president had spoken out strongly and unequivocally against the forces of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance, but that the prime minister “has not deemed it fit to do so”.
“Worse, his council of ministers continues to harbour individuals who are contributing heavily to spreading hate and divisiveness. No action has been taken against them for their provocative statements and actions,” the memorandum said.
The party said India was being set on the path of an illiberal democracy, “whose very spirit is sought to be snuffed out, a democracy, where civil discourse is being vitiated and where intellectual freedom is being stifled”.
“We would like to humbly request the honourable Rashtrapati ji to use the political and moral authority of his office to impress upon the prime minister that this is unacceptable,” the party said.