New Delhi: Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned violence in the name of gau raksha, President Pranab Mukherjee spoke out on the need to quell the vigilantisim that has been on the rise. 

At the sidelines of the re-launch of National Herald, Mr Mukherjee said that the country needed to fight forces of darkness. “When mob lynching becomes so high and uncontrollable, we have to pause and reflect, are we vigilant enough? I am not talking of vigilantism, I am talking of (if we) are vigilant enough, proactively, to save the basic tenets of our country.”

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who also attended the event said, “If we do not speak up, our silence would be taken as consent. Mob violence has become has become order of the day.” 

Priyanka Gandhi also condemned the lynching. “I am furious, what I see on TV and on the internet makes my blood boil. Infact this should make every Indian’s blood boil.”