New Delhi: A group of writers, academics and artistes on Thursday came out in support of the Narendra Modi government and dismissed the protests over alleged rising intolerance as “much ado” about the declining clout of a “pampered section” which was now targeting the Prime Minister.
Hitting out at the intellectuals attacking the Centre over “the climate of intolerance”, they said a section of the nation’s intelligentsia was dismayed by Narendra Modi’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls and “failure in the elections is now sought to be avenged by other means”.
Indian Council for Cultural Relations president Lokesh Chandra, author S.L. Bhyrappa, Kapil Kapoor, former pro-vice chancellor, JNU, Dilip K. Chakrabarti, professor emeritus University of Cambridge and ICHR member and K. Gopinath of IISC are among 36 intellectuals who lent their support to the BJP-led government in a statement and lashed out at the protesters.
Many of them have been sympathetic to Mr Modi and have spoken in his favour earlier too.
“India has witnessed a curious spectacle these last few weeks. A section of the nation’s intelligentsia has expressed outrage at a perceived mounting intolerance in society. In the forefront are the usual pallbearers of Indic civilisation 1 Congressmen of various hues, Marxists, Leninists, even a handful of Maoists.
“The target is clear and explicitly stated, none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who much to their dismay led his party to a clear majority in Parliament,” they alleged.
They said the Centre cannot be blamed for incidents like Dadri. They said murders of Dabholkar and Kalburgi happened in Congress-ruled states.
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