Nayantara Sehgal, whose renunciation of the Sahitya Akademi Award triggered a wave of return of honours by eminent writers, on Monday said that the hindutwa ideology was poles apart from Hinduism.
"It is being shown how writers are returning their awards. The protest is growing and will keep growing till the situation doesn't change," she said.
On being asked about her statement 'there is an RSS government at the Centre', Sehgal said, "The hindutwa ideology that they are spreading has got nothing to do with Hinduism. I am a Hindu and I want to say that such an ideology is not Hinduism."
"India has been divided once. They (Central Government) are dividing it again. The situation is much worse than the Emergency," she added.
The writer requested the people of the country to not confuse between hindutwa ideology and Hinduism.
Several authors, including Nayantara Sehgal, Sara Joseph, Uday Prakash, Ashok Vajpeyi and Aravind Malagutti, have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards.