New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Disdain of religion by the so-called secular people is self-defeating, former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said on Tuesday.

"Disdain of so-called middle class opinion by the so-called intelligentsia is not arrogant, it is just self-defeating, as is disdain of religion by the so-called secular," he said.

Quoting his paternal grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, the former West Bengal governor said, "Gandhi did not make that mistake. We do not know the people in whose name we speak and they do not know us".

On Personal Data Protection Bill, he said, "The bill is now with the joint select committee and one ardently hopes that the expansive exemptions in it, which seem to be at variance with the Supreme Court's order on right to privacy, will be removed."

The Personal Data Protection Bill was on December 11 referred to a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament.

"Those who seem pleased with themselves at being feared are in reality themselves rather frightened beings. They know it though they do not show it. They are frightened of losing their privilege of frightening others," Gopal Gandhi said.

"The removal of safeguards from the Data Protection Bill reflects that insecurity. This can turn us, as Justice SriKrishna has warned, into an Orwellian State," he added.

He added that the external and internal challenges to freedom can not be met by undermining democratic rights, especially the right to free thought and expression, which are the heart of democracy and are the soul of the republic.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)