New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday appealed to the people of Delhi to maintain communal harmony and defeat "ill-intentioned" forces that seek to divide the country on the basis of religion. Expressing deep condolences over the death of head constable Ratan Lal, Gandhi also expressed solidarity with his family.

"There can be no space for violence in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, nor can there be any place in the country for forces that seek to impose their communal and divisive ideology on the people," the Congress leader said in a statement.