He was speaking at a ceremony organised by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee to felicitate the minister for receiving the second highest civilian award on Thursday.

“People like Govind Ballabh Pant, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi have received government awards. There should not be any controversy over my receiving it. I believe we are faced with a severe problem — dearth of tolerance among us. There can always be debate, discussion and dissension among us but lack of tolerance leads to Fascism,” Mukherjee said.

“I am in charge of external affairs and should not say things about other countries in an open rally. But we have seen countries, which became independent along with us, but later became totalitarian. Now, their people are fighting for the right to freedom of expression,” said the senior Congress leader.

Former West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somen Mitra, Congress Legislature Party leader Manas Bhuniya, working president Pradip Bhattacharya and MLA Sudip Bandopadhyay were present at the ceremony.