Speaker Sumitra Mahajan flags off intolerance debate in the Lok Sabha under rule 193. The CPM's Mohammad Salim is the first to speak and says there is an "explosive situation in the country with growing intolerance. There is no such thing as manufactured dissent.

"India is a democratic nation, not a fascist one. Our culture is one of tolerance, we are deviating," he says.


On Sunday, parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government was ready for a debate on intolerance if the Opposition allowed the House to function but defended the government's record, indicating the debate was likely to be stormy.

"Nothing has gone wrong during Narendra Modi's regime as PM, there is absolute tolerance in the country," Naidu said today.


"Different writers have different opinions, Things used to happen earlier also. During the emergency, constitutional and fundamental rights were crippled, these people (writers) were silent then and violent now."

During the opening day of the winter session, finance minister Arun Jaitley had also referred to the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi to attack the Congress.