Sonia slams Centre, says India being marked by increasing threats of authoritarianism

New Delhi: Speaking at the re-launch of the National Herald website in Delhi on Saturday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi made a veiled attack on the Centre, saying that India is being marked by increasing threats of 'authoritarianism', adding that the newspaper aims to preserve ideas of diversity and coexistence forged by the country's forefathers.

"Today the tried and tested idea of India has been thrown fundamentally into question by rising intolerance, by malevolent forces. It is being encouraged by a culture of vigilantive violence, actively supported by those who are supposed to enforce the law," Gandhi said.

Gandhi further said that National Herald is a testament to unity and justice and "not the division and hate that the present times are witnessing."

"Ours is a mission to preserve the credibility and sanctity of our institutions in the democratic design. Mahatma Gandhi's idea of truth, Jawaharlal Nehru's ideal of pluralism, Sardar Patel's vision of unity, and Ambedkar's vision of social justice, these are the things we must fight for," she said.

"We are in a war of ideas, we have reached this war to preserve our ideas, which have built India as a model of democracy diversity and coexistence.if we don't raise our voices, if we do not speak up, our voices will be taken as consent," she added.

Gandhi said that National Herald would serve as a reminder of what its precious about India.

"The National Herald evokes a time when nationalism fought foreign rule, but domestic rule as greater challenge for our country. It evokes at a time when inclusive conception of our Nation is under attack and the press is pressured to obey and applaud rather than question, speaking right to power is imperative at our age," she said.

The National Herald newspaper, founded by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was re-launched on Saturday.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari were present in the commemorative edition of The National Herald to mark the 70th year of Independence here in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi.