Many historians are 'hate Modi' brigade members: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said most protesting historians are official historians of the Congress Party and a large number of them are confirmed 'hate Modi' brigade members.

"Some of the historians in this list are known to be official Congress Party historians. So, their political motivations are clearly known. Most of the people who are protesting now, are the same people who wanted to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election. A large number of them are confirmed hate Modi brigade members," said Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao.

He also maintained that they were also signatories and sympathisers of confirmed terrorists like Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru, and therefore, their political inclinations are widely known.

"We find that they have defied logic, and without any iota of reasoning, they have started blaming the BJP and the Central Government, their political motivation becomes absolutely clear from this act of theirs," he added.

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Noted historians on Thursday joined writers, filmmakers and scientists in growing protests against 'climate of intolerance', while censuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'not making any reassuring statement' following concerns over 'highly vitiated atmosphere' prevailing in the country.

As many as 53 historians, including Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, K.N. Pannikar and Mridula Mukherjee, in a statement said, "Arguments are met not with counter arguments, but with bullets."

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, however, hit back at those returning awards, saying they were "rabid anti-BJP elements" and called it a "manufactured rebellion".

In Patna, Jaitley said their stances on various social and political issues show a lot of rabid anti-BJP elements in them.