"Unfortunately, freedom of expression has been curtailed during last 20 months in India. It has been happening in every state. Instruments of the State are being used to create an environment of fear and intimidation. It's not a good sign," party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma alleged.
He was replying to a query by reporters on the remarks of film maker Karan Johar who had called India to be a tough country where free speaking can send him in jail.
"Even the students and the teachers, the writers, the academics and those who are in the creative fields, they have that fear today and it is not a good sign when it comes to a constitutional democracy - a liberal democracy," he added.
Wading into the intolerance debate, Johar said yesterday, "The talk about freedom of expression is the biggest joke I believe in the world. Democracy is the second biggest joke I think."
"I really wonder how are we really democratic? How is there freedom of expression? As a filmmaker, I feel bound at every level be it what I put out on celluloid or what I say in print," he had said at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.