BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh described the claim that the central government was going soft on intolerance as "baseless".
"The argument is baseless. We have taken measures, whatever needs to be taken. We feel that the ideological inclinations of the writers who have either resigned or have returned their awards should be looked into. You will get the answer," Singh told PTI.
The latest to join the bandwagon is eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana, who today said she had decided to return her award protesting against "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country.
Kannada writer Prof Rahamat Tarikerim today said he had returned his Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the killing of scholar M M Kalburgi and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
With writers Krishna Sobti and Arun Joshi following suit, at least 25 authors including Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi have decided to return their Akademi awards and five writers have stepped down from official positions in the Akademi.