After leading a short protest march of party lawmakers to Rashtrapati Bhawan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, accusing him of "silence" amid "an atmosphere of fear, intolerance and threat" that she alleged was being scripted by organisations associated with the government.

In a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee, Gandhi said, her party has expressed serious concern over "unfortunate incidents that are happening as a part of a well-planned strategy to divide our society on purpose."

"Some organisations and people associated with the government or a part of Modi Ji's government are trying to attack the plurality of the country and promoting intolerance," she said, adding, "The President had expressed his opinion, but PM is silent which clearly shows that he approves of such incidents."

Meanwhile, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has become the latest high profile figure to speak out against "extreme intolerance" in India, reports BBC. Khan, who turned 50 on Monday said, "there is intolerance, there is extreme intolerance… there is, I think… there is growing intolerance."

He said he "respected" people returning awards to protest against intolerance. "We have made a huge thing about our meat-eating habits. How can the food habits of people be an issue?" Khan told the NDTV news channel.

"It is stupid… It is stupid to be intolerant and this is our biggest issue, not just an issue… Religious intolerance and not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot."

Sonia Gandhi's son and deputy Rahul Gandhi, who also marched yesterday from Parliament House to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, said, "a serving minister in the government calls two children who were burnt to death, dogs. This is not the type of minister who should be in the cabinet. People are being lynched and being killed, and the prime minster is silent".

As it began its march, the Congress had complained that the government was "muzzling dissent" by restricting the delegation to only 125 people.a