News

Ideologically intolerant writers manufacturing controversy and protest : Arun Jaitley

by IBNS 14 Oct 2015, 09:35 pm

New Delhi, Oct 15 (IBNS) Slamming the writers who have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards to protest against the alleged intolerance in the Narendra Modi regime, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said there is an attempt to manufacture a protest by those who are ideologically intolerant.

"Is this protest real or a manufactured one? Is this not a case of ideological intolerance?" the finance minister asked on Wednesday.

He said "writers with Left or Nehruvian leaning" who enjoyed the patronage of the previous government are not comfortable with the Modi dispensation.

His outburst comes as a growing band of Sahitya Akademi award winners have chosen to return their awards citing incidents like the Dadri killing or murder of rationalist writers. 

Jaitley described as "extremely unfortunate and condemnable" the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri over beef rumours and at the same time questioned the intention of the writers who have returned Sahitya Akademi awards by complaining the rise of "atmosphere of intolerance."

He said the activism of the protesting writers was prompted by the decline of the Congress and the Left and that they have been forced to "manufacture" a controversy themselves.