'Direct, indirect attack being made on freedom of speech'

Opposition vice presidential candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Thursday alleged that direct and indirect attacks are being made on freedom of belief, thought and speech and that a "new partition of a psychological" nature is being sown in the minds.

He also said that there was need to stop the "projectiles of communalism" in their tracks.

Explaining the context in which his election is held, Gandhi in a letter to the public said though the partition is now a thing of the post, yet a "new partition of a psychological division is being sown in our minds and "we must stop the projectiles of communalism".

The letter has been written for the common people, days after he sought a debate with NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu on the role of the vice president.

"Direct and indirect attacks are being made on democratic freedoms of belief, thought and speech. And institutions serving public causes feel a palpable pressure on them to conform where they wish to dissent, to be silent where they wish to speak up," he said in his letter.

Gandhi also said, "When it comes to mutual trust, intolerance and bigotry have risen to an all-time high."

He said six months from now will mark the 70th year of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and the wounds of partition.

"That Partition is now a fact, the riots of 1946-47 a thing of the past. And yet a new partition is being sown in our minds, a psychological division.

"As the late philosopher Ramchandra Gandhi put it, the Mahatma, on his way to prayer, was not stopped by three bullets of hate. Rather, he stopped with his heart full of prayer, those three bullets in their track. We must stop the projectiles of communalism in their tracks," he said.

Mahatma's grandson also said that the ideals of Freedom, Justice, Equality, drawn from the goals and values of our great struggle for Independence in the 70th year of independent India, "have acquired a compelling urgency. They are facing challenges."