New Delhi
 Hatred, bigotry and intolerance were “engulfing” the country and if not stopped these would damage the society beyond repair, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has alleged.In a newspaper article, she called upon people not to allow this to go on and urged them to stop “this raging fire and tsunami of hate” that will “raze all that has been so painstakingly built by past generations”.
“An apocalypse of hatred, bigotry, intolerance and untruth is engulfing our country today. If we don’t stop it now, it will — if it already hasn’t — damage our society beyond repair. We simply cannot and must not allow this to go on. We as a people cannot stand by and watch as peace and pluralism are sacrificed at the altar of bogus nationalism,” she said in an article in ‘The Indian Express’.
“Let us contain this raging fire, this tsunami of hate that has been unleashed before all that has been so painstakingly built by past generations is razed to the ground,” Gandhi wrote.She quoted Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Gitanjali’ to say its verses were “all the more relevant and have heightened resonance” now.
“Over a century ago, the poet of Indian nationalism gave the world his immortal ‘Gitanjali’ of which perhaps the 35th verse has become the most celebrated and most quoted. Gurudev Tagore’s prayer, with its seminal lines starting, ‘Where the mind is without fear…’ is all the more relevant and has heightened resonance today.”
In the article “A Virus Rages”, the Congress chief asked, “Does India have to be in a state of permanent polarization?”She alleged that the ruling establishment clearly wants the citizens of India to believe that such an environment was in their best interest.”Whether it is dress, food, faith, festivals or language, Indian are sought to be pitted against Indians and the forces of discord are given every encouragement — overt and covert. History — both ancient and contemporary — is continuously sought to be interpreted to promote prejudice animosity and vengeance,” she claimed.
