Why were writers mum when communal incidents took place during UPA, asks BJP

Kolkata, Oct 16: Criticising writers who returned their Sahitiya Akademi awards, West Bengal BJP leadership today accused them of trying to politicize the matter and of staying silent when atrocities are committed on the majority community.

"We condenm the brutal Dadri incident in UP. We have to fight together against communal outfits throughout the country," BJP state president Rahul Sinha said.

"But my question is why were these writers mum when communal incidents took place during the UPA regime. They are blaming the central government for the (Dadri) incident. But the fact is the incident took place in UP which is under Akhilesh Singh Yadav (government). But they are not saying anything against him.

Rather they are blaming the central government. "When the attrocities take place on people from majority community, the writers stay mum. But if there is a attack on minority comminity they raise hue and cry. What were they doing when Taslima Nasreen was evicted from West Bengal in order to appease the minorities ?

They stayed mum on that issue," said Sinha. Several writers, including Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi, had returned their Akademi award to protest against what they called rising intolerance. Sinha also accused the TMC government in West Bengal of playing with the sentiments of the majority community in order to appease the minority for vote bank politics.

PTI