Right wing extremist ideology poses threat to nation, says Nayantara Sahgal

Eminent author and niece of Jawaharlal Nehru, Nayantara Sahgal, on Saturday said that safety of Indian citizens are in danger due to what she alleged right wing backed extremist ideology.

She further opined that the current government lacked the open mindedness of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"BJP never made an official policy of turning the secular country to 'Hindutva' till now. There was open-mindedness in Atal Bihari Vajpayee leadership which is almost invisible in the present Government," she said in an interview.

Sahgal also said that she is a Hindu but opposes all the wrong policies propagated at present in the name of 'Hindutva'.

"It is very unfortunate that Hinduism is being portrayed in a negative way," she said.

"Gandhi ji has given a sacred expression to the country ' Ishwar Allah tero naam' 'sabko sanmati dey Bhagwaan' and we want to remind this expression to the BJP government." Nayantara Sahgal told ANI here.

"At the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi there was no communal violence in the country because Nehru's stand was ' Hum sab ek hai' (we all are one)," she added.

She further said, "People who are not Hindu's are being treated as second class citizens. Most of the people in the country are worried after the communal violence, what is the next step of RSS ideology government."

Before Nayantara Sahgal, some other authors have also returned the national awards.

Sarah Joseph returned the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Akademi award protesting against the 'communal policies' of the central government.

Malayalam and English poet K. Satchidanandan quit the Sahitya Akademi today becoming the latest literary icon to do so.

The Literary icons have been protesting against the soaring cases of communal violence in the country and the inaction of the government to bring the perpetrators to justice.