Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday flayed the NDA Government for failing to pacify the nation's literary icons who have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards.
"Over 25 of our cultural icons return awards in protest against growing intolerance in the country, and now, civil society boycotts Central Information Commission (CIC). Instead of reaching out to them and proactively assuaging their fears, the Modi Sarkar as usual is trying to find fault with them," Kumar said in a tweet.
He said the Centre is undermining the basic ethos and values of country, and this was extremely worrying.
More than 40 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards, claiming that "India's culture of diversity and debate was now under vicious assault".
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, asked the writers whether their protest was "real or manufactured" and if it was "a case of ideological intolerance".
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